ENGLISH   CLASSICS 


THE 

SONNETS 

OF 

WILLIAM   SHAKSPERE 


EDITED   BY 

EDWARD   DOWDEN 


NEW  YORK 

D.   APPLETON   &   COMPANY 
i,  3,  AND  5  BOND  STREET 


MDCCCLXXXVII 


TO    THE.  ONLIE.  BEGETTER.  OF. 

THESE   .    INSVING    .    SONNETS  . 

Mr.  W.  H.    ALL  .  HAPPINESSE  . 

AND.  THAT.  ETERNITIE  • 

PROMISED. 

BY. 
OVR     EVER-LIVING     POET. 

WISHETH  . 

THE    WELL-WISHING. 

ADVENTVRER     IN 

SETTING  . 

FORTH . 

T.T. 


CONTENTS. 


i.  From  faireft  creatures  we  defire  increafe         .  i 

I.  When  forty  winters  (hall  bcfiege  thy  brow      .  a 

H  r.  Look  in  thy  glafs,  and  tell  the  face  thou  vieweft  3 

IV.  Unthrifty  lovelinefs,  why  doft  thou  fpend        .  4 

V.  Thofe  hours,  that  with  gentle  work  did  frame  5 

vi.  Then  let  not  winter's  ragged  hand  deface       .  6 

vii.  Lo,  in  the  orient  when  the  gracious  light        .  7 

Vin.  Mufic  to  hear,  why  hear'ft  thou  mufic  fadly   .  8 

ix.  Is  it  for  fear  to  wet  a  widow's  eye  ...  9 

x.  For  fhame  !  deny  that  thou  bear'ft  love  to  any  10 

xi.  As  faft  as  thou  flialt  wane,  fo  faft  thou  grow'ft  it 

xn.  When  I  do  count  the  clock  that  tells  the  time  12 

xin.  O,  that  you  were  yourfelf !  but,  love,  you  are  13 

Xiv.  Not  from  the  ftars  do  I  my  judgment  pluck   .  14 

xv.  When  I  confider  every  thing  that  grows          .  15 

xvi.  But  wherefore  do  not  you  a  mightier  way       .  16 

xvn.  Who  will  believe  my  verfe  in  time  to  come     .  17 

xvin.  Shall  I  compare  thee  to  a  fummer's  day          .  18 

xix.  Devouring  Time,  blunt  thou  the  lion's  paws  .  19 

xx.  A  woman's  face,  with  Nature's  own  hand  painted  20 

xxi.  So  is  it  not  with  me  as  with  that  Mufe    .        .  21 

xxn.  My  glafs  ftiall  not  perfuade  me  I  am  old         .  22 

xxai.  As  an  unperfect  actor  on  the  ftage  .        .        .23 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
XXIV.  Mine  eye  hath  play'd  the  painter,  and  hath 

ftell'd 24 

xxv.  Let  thofe  who  are  in  favour  with  their  ftars    .  25 

xxvi.  Lord  of  my  love,  to  whom  in  vaflalage    .        .  26 

xxvii.  Weary  with  toil,  I  hafte  me  to  my  bed    .         .  27 

xxvin.  How  can  I  then  return  in  happy  plight  .        .  28 

xxix.  When,  in  difgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes  29 

xxx.  When  to  the  feflions  of  fweet  filent  thought    .  30 

xxxi.  Thy  bofom  is  endeared  with  all  hearts     .        .  31 

xxxii.  If  thou  furvive  my  well-contented  day     .        .  32 

XXXIIL  Full  many  a  glorious  morning  have  I  feen      .  33 

xxxiv.  Why  didft  thou  promife  fuch  a  beauteous  day  34 

xxxv.  No  more  be  grieved  at  that  which  thou  haft  done  35 

xxxvi.  Let  me  confefs  that  we  two  muft  be  twain      .  36 

xxxvii.  As  a  decrepit  father  takes  delight    ...  37 

xxxviii.  How  can  my  Mufe  want  fubject  to  invent      .  38 

xxxix.  O,  how  thy  worth  with  manners  may  I  fmg    .  39 

XL.  Take  all  my  loves,  my  love,  yea,  take  them  all  40 

XLI.  Thofe  pretty  wrongs  that  liberty  commits       .  41 

XLII.  That  thou  haft  her,  it  is  not  all  my  grief         .  42 

XLIII.  When  moft  I  wink,  then  do  mine  eyes  beft  fee  43 

xuv.  If  the  dull  fubftance  of  my  flefti  were  thought  44 

XLV.  The  other  two,  flight  air  and  purging  fire        .  45 

XLVI.  Mine  eye  and  heart  are  at  a  mortal  war         .  46 

XLVII.  Betwixt  mine  eye  and  heart  a  league  is  took  47 

XLVIII.  How  careful  was  I,  when  I  took  my  way        .  48 

XLIX.  Againft  that  time,  if  ever  that  time  come         .  49 

L.  How  heavy  do  I  journey  on  the  way      .        .  50 

Li.  Thus  can  my  love  excufe  the  flow  offence       .  51 

LII.  So  am  I  as  the  rich,  whofe  blefled  key    .        .  52 

Lin.  What  is  your  fubftance,  whereof  are  you  made  53 

LIV.  O,  how  much  more  doth  beauty  beauteous  feem  54 


CONTENTS.  v 

PAGE 

LV.  Not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments  .        .  55 

LVI.  Sweet  love,  renew  thy  force  ;  be  it  not  faid    .  56 

LVII.  Being  your  flave,  what  (hould  I  do  but  tend  .  57 

LVIII.  That  God  forbid  that  made  me  firft  your  flave  58 

LIX.  If  there  be  nothing  new,  but  that  which  is      .  59 

LX.  Like  as  the  waves  make  towards  the  pebbled 

ihore 60 

LXI.  Is  it  thy  will  thy  image  fhould  keep  open        .  6x 

LXII.  Sin  of  felf-love  poflefleth  all  mine  eye     .        .  62 

LXIII.  Againft  my  love  (hall  be,  as  I  am  now     .        .  63 

LXIV.  When  I  have  feen  by  Time's  fell  hand  defaced  64 
LXV.  Since  brafs,  nor  (tone,  nor  earth,  nor  bound- 

lefsfea 65 

LXVI.  Tir'd  with  all  thefe,  for  reftful  death  I  cry  66 

LXVII.  Ah,  wherefore  with  infection  (hould  he  live    .  67 

LXVUI.  Thus  is  his  cheek  the  map  of  days  outworn    .  63 
LXIX.  Thofe  parts  of  thee  that  the  world's  eye  doth 

view 69 

LXX.  That  thou  art  blam'd  (hall  not  be  thy  defect   .  70 

LXXI.  No  longer  mourn  for  me  when  I  am  dead        .  71 

LXXII.  O,  left  the  world  (hould  taflc  you  to  recite       .  72 

LXXIII.  That  time  of  year  thou  mayft  in  me  behold     .  73 

LXXIV.  But  be  contented  :  when  that  fell  arreft          .  74 

LXXV.  So  are  you  to  my  thoughts  as  food  to  life        .  75 

LXXVI.  Why  is  my  verfe  fo  barren  of  new  pride           .  76 

LXXVII.  Thy  glafs  will  (how  thee  how  thy  beauties  wear  77 

LXXVIII.  So  oft  have  I  invok'd  thee  for  my  Mufe          .  78 

LXX  ix.  Whilft  I  alone  did  call  upon  thy  aid        .        .  79 

LXXX.  O,  how  I  faint  when  I  of  you  do  write    .        .  80 

LXXXI.  Or  I  (hall  live  your  epitaph  to  make        .        .  81 

LXXXII.  I  errant  thou  wert  not  married  to  my  Mufe     .  82 

LXXXIII.  I  never  faw  that  you  did  painting  need  .        .  83 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

LXXXIV.  Who  is  it  that  fays  moft  ?  which  can  fay  more  84 

LXXXV.  My  tongue-tied  Mufe  in  manners  holds  her  ftill  85 

LXXXVI.  Was  it  the  proud  full  fail  of  his  great  verfe     .  86 

LXXXVII.  Farewell !  thou  art  too  dear  for  my  poflefling  87 

LXXXVIII.  When  thou  flialt  be  difpofd  to  fet  me  light    .  88 

LXXXIX.  Say  that  thou  didft  forfake  me  for  fome  fault  89 

xc.  Then  hate  me  when  thou  wilt ;  if  ever,  now  .  90 

xci.  Some  glory  in  their  birth,  fome  in  their  (kill  •  91 

xcn.  But  do  thy  worft  to  fteal  thyfelf  away     .        .  92 

xciii.  So  fhall  I  live,  fuppofing  thou  art  true    .        .  93 

xciv.  They  that  have  power  to  hurt  and  will  do  none  94 

xcv.  How  fweet  and  lovely  doft  thou  make  the  fhame  95 

xcvi.  Some  fay,  thy  fault  is  youth,  fome  wantonnefs  96 

xcvu.  How  like  a  winter  hath  my  abfence  been        .  97 

xcvm.  From  you  have  I  been  abfent  in  the  fpring     .  98 

xcix.  The  forward  violet  thus  did  I  chide         .        •  99 

c.  Where  art  thou,  Mufe,  that"  thou  forget'ft  fo 

long     ........  100 

Ci.  O  truant  Mufe,  what  fhall  be  thy  amends       .  101 
en.  My  love  is  ftrengthen'd,  though  more  weak  in 

feeming        .,....•  102 

cm.  Alack,  what  poverty  my  Mufe  brings  forth    •  103 

civ.  To  me,  fair  friend,  you  never  can  be  old         •  104 

cv.  Let  not  my  love  be  call'd  idolatry    .        .        .  105 

cvi.  When  in  the  chronicle  of  wafted  time      .        .  106 

cvn.  Not  mine  own  fears,  nor  the  prophetic  foul    .  107 

cvm.  What 's  in  the  brain  that  ink  may  character   .  108 

cix.  O,  never  fay  that  I  was  falfe  of  heart      .        .  109 

ex.  Alas,  'tis  true,  I  have  gone  here  and  there     .  1 10 

cxi.  O,  for  my  fake  do  you  with  Fortune  chide     »  in 

cxii.  Your  love  and  pity  doth  the  impreflion  fill      .  112 

cxm.  Since  I  left  you,  mine  eye  is  in  my  miud        .  ^13 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

cxiv.  Or  whether  doth  my  mind,  being  crown'd  with 

you 214 

cxv.  Thofe  lines  that  I  before  have  writ  do  lie        .  115 

cxvi.  Let  me  not  to  the  marriage  of  true  minds       .  116 

cxvii.  Accufe  me  thus :  that  I  have  fcanted  all         .  117 

cxvui.  Like  as,  to  make  our  appetites  more  keen      .  118 

cxix.  What  potions  have  I  drunk  of  Siren  tears       .  119 

cxx.  That  you  were  once  unkind  befriends  me  now  120 

cxxi.  'Tis  better  to  be  vile  than  vile  efteem'd           .  12 1 

cxxn.  Thy  gift,  thy  tables,  are  within  my  brain        .  iaa 

CXXHI.  No,  Time,  thou  flialt  not  boaft  that  I  do 

change ,        .  223 

cxxiv.  If  my  dear  love  were  but  the  child  of  ftate     .  124 

cxxv.  Were't  aught  to  me  I  bore  the  canopy   ,        .  125 

cxxvi.  O  thou,  my  lovely  boy,  who  in  thy  power       .  126 

cxxvu.  In  the  old  age  black  was  not  counted  fair       .  127 

cxxvin.  How  oft,  when  thou,  my  mufic,  mufic  play 'ft  128 

cxxix.  The  expenfe  of  fpirit  in  a  wafte  of  fhame         .  129 

cxxx.  My  miftrefs'  eyes  are  nothing  like  the  fun      .  130 

cxxxr.  Thou  art  as  tyrannous,  fo  as  thou  art      .        .  131 

CXXXH.  Thine  eyes  I  love,  and  they,  as  pitying  me     .  133 

cxxx n i.  Befhrew  that  heart,  that  makes  my  heart  to 

groan 133 

cxxxiv.  So  now  I  have  confeff'd  that  he  is  thine          .  134 

cxxxv.  Whoever  hath  her  wifti,  thou  haft  thy  Will    .  135 

cxxxvi.  If  thy  foul  check  thee  that  I  come  fo  near      .  1 36 
cxxxvn.  Thou  blind  fool,  Love,  what  doft  thou  to  mine 

eyes 137 

cxxxvui.  When  my  love  fwears  that  (he  is  made  of  truth  138 

cxxxix.  O,  call  not  me  to  juftify  the  wrong          .        ,  139 

CXL.  Be  wife  as  thou  art  cruel ;  do  not  prefs   .        .  140 

CXLI.  In  faith,  I  do  not  love  thee  with  mine  eyes     ,  141 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CXLII.  Love  is  my  fin,  and  thy  dear  virtue  hate         .  14* 

CXLIII.  Lo,  as  a  careful  houfewife  runs  to  catch          .  143 

CXLIV.  Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort  and  defpair        .  144 

CXLV.  Thofe  lips  that  Love's  own  hand  did  make     .  145 

CXLVI.  Poor  foul,  the  centre  of  my  fmful  earth  .        .  146 

CXLVII.  My  love  is  as  a  fever,  longing  ftill  .        .        .  147 

CXLVIII.  O  me,  what  eyes  hath  Love  put  in  my  head  .  148 

CXLIX.  Canft  thou,  O  cruel !  fay  I  love  thee  not        .  149 

CL.  O,  from  what  power  haft  thou  this  powerful 

might  .                150 

en.  Love  is  too  young  to  know  what  confcience  is  151 

CLII.  In  loving  thee  thou  know'ft  I  am  forfwora      .  152 

CLIII.  Cupid  laid  by  his  brand,  and  fell  afleep  .        .  153 

CLIV.  The  little  Love-god  lying  once  afleep     .       .  iS4 


INTRODUCTION. 

No  edition  of  Shakfpere's  Sonnets,1  apart  from 
his  other  writings,  with  fufficient  explanatory 
notes,  has  hitherto  appeared.  Notes  are  an  evil, 
but  in  the  cafe  of  the  Sonnets  a  neceflary  evil, 
for  many  paflages  are  hard  to  underftand.  I 
have  kept  befide  me  for  feveral  years  an  inter- 
leaved copy  of  Dyce's  text,  in  which  I  fet  down 
from  time  to  time  anything  that  feemed  to  throw 
light  on  a  difficult  paflage.  From  thefe  jottings, 
and  from  the  Variorum  Shakfpeare  of  1821,* 
my  annotations  have  been  chiefly  drawn.  I  have 
had  before  me  in  preparing  this  volume  the 

1  The  poet's  name  is  rightly  written  Shakefpeare  ;  rightly 
alfo  Shakfpere.  If  I  err  in  choofing  the  form  Shakfpere^  I 
err  with  the  owner  of  the  name. 

a  To  which  this  general  reference  may  fuffice.  I  often 
found  it  convenient  to  alter  (lightly  the  notes  of  the 
Variorum  Shakfpere,  and  I  have  not  made  it  a  rule  to 
refer  each  note  from  that  edition  to  its  individual  writer. 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

editions  of  Bell,  Clark  and  Wright,  Collier, 
Delius,  Dyce,  Halliwell,  Hazlitt,  Knight,  Pal- 
grave,  Staunton,  Grant  White;  the  tranflations 
of  Fran£ois-Vi&or  Hugo,  Bodenftedt,  and  others, 
and  the  greater  portion  of  the  extenfive  Shakfpere 
Sonnets  literature,  Englifh  and  German.  It  is 
forrowful  to  confider  of  how  fmall  worth  the 
contribution  I  make  to  the  knowledge  of  thefe 
poems  is,  in  proportion  to  the  time  and  pains 
beftowed. 

To  render  Shakfpere's  meaning  clear  has  been 
my  aim.  I  do  not  make  his  poetry  an  occafion 
for  giving  leffons  in  etymology.  It  would  have 
been  eafy,  and  not  ufelefs,  to  have  enlarged  the 
notes  with  parallels  from  other  Elizabethan 
writers ;  but  they  are  already  bulky.  I  have 
been  fparing  of  fuch  parallel  paffages,  and  have 
illuftrated  Shakfpere  chiefly  from  his  own  writ- 
ings. Repeated  perufals  have  convinced  me  that 
the  Sonnets  {land  in  the  right  order,  and  that 
fonnet  is  connected  with  fonnet  in  more  inftances 
than  have  been  obferved.  My  notes  on  each 
fonnet  commonly  begin  with  an  attempt  to  point 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

out  the  little  links  or  articulations  in  thought  and 
word,  which  conned  it  with  its  predeceffor  or  the 
group  to  which  it  belongs.  I  frankly  warn  the 
reader  that  I  have  pufhed  this  kind  of  criticifm 
far,  perhaps  too  far.  I  have  perhaps  in  fome 
inftances  fancied  points  of  connexion  which  have 
no  real  exiftence ;  some  I  have  fet  down,  which 
feem  to  myfelf  conjectural.  After  this  warning, 
I  alk  the  friendly  reader  not  to  grow  too  foon 
impatient ;  and  if,  going  through  the  text  care- 
fully, he  will  confider  for  himfelf  the  points 
which  I  have  noted,  I  have  a  hope  that  he  will 
in  many  inftances  fee  reafon  to  agree  with  what 
I  have  faid. 

The  text  here  prefented  is  that  of  a  conferva- 
tive  editor,  oppofed  to  conjecture,  unlefs  con- 
jecture be  a  neceflity,  and  defirous  to  abide  by 
the  Quarto  (1609)  unlefs  ftrong  reafons  appear 
for  a  departure  from  it. 

The  portrait  etched  as  frontifpiece  is  a  living 
face  reftored  by  Mr.  L.  Lowenftam  from  the 
celebrated  death-mafk  found  by  Ludwig  Becker. 
The  artift  clofely  follows  his  original.  The 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

evidence  in  fupport  of  the  opinion  that  this  mafk 
was  caft  from  a  wax-mould  taken  from  Shak- 
fpere's  face  is  ftrong  enough  to  fatiffy  a  good 
many  careful  inveftigators  ;  not  ftrong  enough  to 
fatiffy  all.  The  portrait,  then,  may  be  viewed 
as  poffeffing  a  real  and  curious  intereft,  while  yet 
of  doubtful  authenticity.1 

Sonnets  by  Shakfpere  are  firft  mentioned  in 
Meres's  Palladis  Tamia,  1598:  *  The  fweete 
wittie  foule  of  Ovid  lives  in  mellifluous  and  hony- 
tongued  Shakefpeare,  witnes  .  .  .  his  fugred 
Sonnets  among  his  private  friends'.  In  the 
following  year,  1599,  Sonnets  cxxxvm.  and 
CXLIV.  were  printed  in  the  bookfeller  Jaggard's 
furreptitious  mifcellany  The  PaJJionate  Pilgrim 
(fee  Notes,  p.  239  and  p.  242).  Both  of  thefe 

1  '  I  muft  candidly  fay  I  am  not  able  to  fpot  a  (ingle 
fufpicious  fac"r.  in  the  brief  hiftory  of  this  moft  curious 
relic '. — C.  M.  Ingleby,  Shakefpeare  the  Man  and  the  Book, 
Part  i.  p.  84.  See  on  the  death-maflc  articles  by  J.  S. 
Hart  in  Scribner's  Monthly r,  July  18745  by  Dr.  Schaff- 
haufen  in  Shakefpeare  Jahrbucb  18755  and  by  Lord 
Ronald  Gower  in  The  Antiquary,  vol.  ii.,  all  of  whom 
accept  it  as  the  veritable  death-mafk  of  Shakfpere. 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

refer  to  a  woman  beloved  by  the  writer;  the 
fecond  is  that  remarkable  poem  beginning 

Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort  and  defpair. 
For  ten  years  we  hear  no  more  of  the  Son- 
nets. On  May  20,  1609,  'a  book  called  Shake- 
fpeares  Sonnettes '  was  entered  on  the  Stationers' 
Regifter  by  Thomas  Thorpe,  and  in  the  fame 
year  the  Quarto  edition  appeared :  '  Shake- 
fpeares  Sonnets.  Never  before  Imprinted.  At 
London  by  G.  Eld  for  T.  T.  [Thomas  Thorpe] 
and  to  be  folde  by  William  Apfley.  1609'. 1 
Edward  Alleyn  notes  in  that  year  that  he  bought 
a  copy  for  fivepence.  The  Sonnets  had  not  the 
popularity  of  Shakfpere's  other  poems.  No 
fecond  edition  was  publifhed  until  1 640  (printed 
1639),  when  they  formed  part  of  'Poems: 
written  by  Wil.  Shake-fpeare.  Gent',  a  volume 
containing  many  pieces  not  by  Shakfpere.  Here 
the  Sonnets  are  printed  with  fmall  regard  to 
their  order  in  the  edition  of  1609,  in  groups, 
with  the  poems  of  The  PaJJionate  Pilgrim  inter- 

1  Some  copies  inftead  of  '  William  Apfley '  have  '  lohn 
Wright  dwelling  at  Chrift  Churchgate  \ 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

fperfed,  each  group  bearing  a  fanciful  title.  The 
bookfeller  Benfon  introduced  the  Poems  with  an 
addrefs  to  The  Reader,  in  which  he  aflerts  that 
they  are  '  of  the  fame  purity  the  Authour  then 
living  avouched',  and  that  the  reader  will  find 
them  'feren,  clear  and  elegantly  plain*.  The 
titles  given  to  the  groups  carry  the  fuggeflion 
that  the  Sonnets,  with  few  exceptions,  were  ad- 
drefled  by  a  lover  to  his  lady. 

This  edition  of  1640  was  reprinted  feveral 
times  in  the  eighteenth  century ;  the  text  of  the 
quarto  1 609,  by  Lintott  1711,  in  Steevens's 
'  Twenty  Plays',  1766,  and  by  Malone.  Gildon 
and  Sewell,  editors  of  the  firft  half  of  the  cen- 
tury, having  the  1 640  text  before  them,  aflumed 
that  the  Sonnets  were  addrefled  to  Shakfpere's 
miflrefs.  It  remained  for  the  editors  and  critics 
of  the  fecond  half  of  the  century  to  difcover  that 
the  greater  number  were  written  for  a  young 
man.  To  a  careful  reader  of  the  original  it 
needed  fmall  refearch  to  afcertain  that  a  friend  is 
addrefled  in  the  firft  hundred  and  twenty-five 
fonnets,  to  which  the  poem  in  twelve  lines, 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

numbered  cxxvi.,  is  an  Envoy  ;  while  the  Sonnets 

CXXVII.-CLIV.  either  addrefs  a  miftrefs,  or  have 

,. 

reference  to  her  and  to  the  poet's  paffion  for  her. 
The  fludent  of  Shakfpere  is  drawn  to  the 
Sonnets  not  alone  by  their  ardour  and  depth  of 
feeling,  their  fertility  and  condenfation  of  thought, 
jheir  exquifite  felicities  of  phrafe,  and  their  fre- 
quent beauty  of  rhythmical  movement,  but  in  a 
peculiar  degree  by  the  poffibility  that  here,  if 
nowhere  elfe,  the  greateft  of  Englifh  poets  may 
— as  Wordfworth  puts  it — have  'unlocked  his 
heart'.1  It  were  ftrange  if  his  filence,  deep  as 

1  Poets  differ  in  the   interpretation  of  the  Sonnets  as 
widely  as  critics : 

«<  Wth  thh  fame  key 

Shakefpeare  unlocked  hh  heart  '  once  more  ! 

Did  Shakefpeare  ?  If  fo  the  lefs  Shakefpeare  he  ! " 
So,  Mr.  Browning ;  to  whom  replies  Mr.  Swinburne, '  No 
•whit  the  lefs  like  Shakefpeare,  but  undoubtedly  the  lefs 
like  Browning.'  Some  of  Shelley's  feeling  with  reference 
to  the  Sonnets  may  be  guefled  from  certain  lines  to  be 
found  among  the  '  Studies  for  Epipfychidion  and  Cancelled 
Paflages*  (Poetical  Works:  ed.  Forman,  vol.  ii.  pp.  392, 
393),  to  which  my  attention  has  been  called  by  Mr.  E.  W. 
Gofle:— 

If  any  fliould  be  curious  to  difcover 
Whether  to  you  I  am  a  friend  or  lover, 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

that  of  the  fecrets  of  Nature,  never  once  knew 
interruption.  The  moment,  however,  we  regard 
the  Sonnets  as  autobiographical,  we  find  our- 
felves  in  the  prefence  of  doubts  and  difficulties, 
exaggerated,  it  is  true,  by  many  writers,  yet 
certainly  real. 

If  we  muft  efcape  from  them,  the  fimpleft 
mode  is  to  affume  that  the  Sonnets  are  *  the  free 
outcome  of  a  poetic  imagination '  (Delius).  It 
is  an  ingenious  fuggeftion  of  Delius  that  certain 
groups  may  be  offfets  from  other  poetical  works 
of  Shakfpere ;  thofe  urging  a  beautiful  youth  to 
perpetuate  his  beauty  in  offfpring  may  be  a 
derivative  from  Venus  &  Adonis ;  thofe  declaring 
love  for  a  dark  complexioned  woman  may  re- 

Let  them  read  Shakfpeare's  sonnets,  taking  thence 

A  whetftone  for  their  dull  intelligence 

That  tears  and  will  not  cut,  or  let  them  guefs 

How  Diotima,  the  wife  prophetefs, 

Inftrufted  the  inftru&or,  and  why  he 

Rebuked  the  infant  fpirit  of  melody 

On  Agathon's  fweet  lips,  which  as  he  fpoke 

Was  as  the  lovely  ftar  when  morn  has  broke 

The  roof  of  darknefs,  in  the  golden  dawn, 

Half-hidden  and  yet  beautiful. 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

handle  the  theme  fet  forth  in  Berowne's  paflion 
for  the  dark  Rofaline  of  Love's  Labour's  Lojl ; 
thofe  which  tell  of  a  miftrefs  refigned  to  a  friend 
may  be  a  non-dramatic  treatment  of  the  theme 
of  love  and  friendfhip  prefented  in  the  later 
fcenes  of  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona.  Per- 
haps a  few  fonnets,  as  ex.  cxi.,  refer  to  circum- 
ftances  of  Shakfpere's  life  (Dyce) ;  the  main  body 
of  thefe  poems  may  ftill  be  regarded  as  mere 
exercifes  of  the  fancy. 

Such  an  explanation  of  the  Sonnets  has  the 
merit  of  fimplicity ;  it  unties  no  knots  but  cuts 
all  at  a  blow;  if  the  collection  confifts  of  dif- 
conneded  exercifes  of  the  fancy,  we  need  not 
try  to  reconcile  difcrepancies,  nor  ftiape  a  ftory, 
nor  afcertain  a  chronology,  nor  identify  perfons. 
And  what  indeed  was  a  fonneteer's  paflion  but  a 
painted  fire  ?  What  was  the  form  of  verfe  but 
an  exotic  curioufly  trained  and  tended,  in  which 
an  artificial  fentiment  imported  from  Italy  gave 
perfume  and  colour  to  the  flower  ? 

And  yet,  in  this  as  in  other  forms,  the  poetry 
of  the  time,  which  poflefles  an  enduring  vitality, 
3 


xviii  INTRODUCTION. 

was  not  commonly  caught  out  of  the  air,  but — 
however  large  the  conventional  element  in  it 
may  have  been — was  born  of  the  union  of  heart 
and  imagination ;  in  it  real  feelings  and  real 
experience,  fubmitting  to  the  poetical  faftiions 
of  the  day,  were  raifed  to  an  ideal  expreffion. 
Spenfer  wooed  and  wedded  the  Elizabeth  of  his 
Amoretti.  The  AJlropM  6-  Stella  tells  of  a 
veritable  tragedy,  fatal  perhaps  to  two  bright 
lives  and  paflionate  hearts.  And  what  poems  of 
Drummond  do  we  remember  as  we  remember 
thofe  which  record  how  he  loved  and  lamented 
Mary  Cunningham  ? 

Some  ftudents  of  the  Sonnets  who  refufe  to 
trace  their  origin  to  real  incidents  of  Shakfpere's 
life,  allow  that  they  form  a  connected  poem,  or 
at  moft  two  connected  poems,  and  thefe,  they 
affure  us,  are  of  deeper  fignificance  than  any 
mere  poetical  exercifes  can  be.  They  form  a 
flupendous  allegory ;  they  exprefs  a  profound 
philofophy.  The  young  friend  whom  Shakfpere 
addrefles  is  in  truth  the  poet's  Ideal  Self,  or 
Ideal  Manhood,  or  the  Spirit  of  Beauty,  or  the 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

Reafon,  or  the  Divine  Logos ;  his  dark  miftrefs, 
whom  a  profaic  German  translator  (Jordan)  takes 
for  a  mulatto  or  quadroon,  is  indeed  Dramatic 
Art,  or  the  Catholic  Church,  or  the  Bride  of  the 
Canticles,  black  but  comely.  Let  us  not  fmile 
too  foon  at  the  pranks  of  Puck  among  the  critics  ; 
it  is  more  prudent  to  move  apart  and  feel  gently 
whether  that  fleek  nole  with  fair  large  ears,  may 
not  have  been  flipped  upon  our  own  fhoulders. 

When  we  queftion  faner  critics  why  Shak- 
fpere's  Sonnets  may  not  be  at  once  Dicbtung 
und  Wahrheity  poetry  and  truth,  their  anfwer 
amounts  to  this :  Is  it  likely  that  Shakfpere 
would  fo  have  rendered  extravagant  homage  to  a 
boy  patron  ?  Is  it  likely  that  one,  who  fo  deeply 
felt  the  moral  order  of  the  world,  would  have 
yielded,  as  the  poems  to  his  dark  lady  acknow- 
ledge, to  a  vulgar  temptation  of  the  fenfes  ?  or 
yielding,  would  have  told  his  fliame  in  verfe  ? 
Objections  are  brought  forward  againft  identify- 
ing the  youth  of  the  Sonnets  with-Southampton 
or  with  Pembroke;  it  is  pointed  out  that  the 
writer  fpeaks  of  himfelf  as  old,  and  that  in  a 


xx  INTRODUCTION. 

fonnet  publifhed  in  Shakfpere's  thirty-fifth  year ; 
here  evidently  he  cannot  have  fpoken  in  his  own 
perfon,  and  if  not  here,  why  elfewhere  ?  Finally, 
it  is  aflerted  that  the  poems  lack  internal  harmony ; 
no  real  perfon  can  be,  what  Shakfpere's  friend  is 
defcribed  as  being — true  and  falfe,  conftant  and 
fickle,  virtuous  and  vicious,  of  hopeful  expecta- 
tion and  publicly  blamed  for  carelefs  living. 

Shakfpere  fpeaks  of  himfelf  as  old ;  true,  but 
in  the  fonnet  publifried  in  The  Pafflonate  Pilgrim 
(cxxxvm.),  he  fpeaks  as  a  lover,  contrafting 
himfelf  (killed  in  the  lore  of  life  with  an  inex- 
perienced youth  ;  doubtlefs  at  thirty-five  he  was 
not  a  Florizel  nor  a  Ferdinand.  In  the  poems 
to  his  friend,  Shakfpere  is  addreffing  a  young 
man  perhaps  of  twenty  years,  in  the  frefh  bloom 
of  beauty ;  he  celebrates  with  delight  the  floral 
grace  of  youth,  to  which  the  firft  touch  of  time 
will  be  a  taint ;  thofe  lines  of  thought  and  care, 
which  his  own  mirror  (hows,  bear  witnefs  to 
time's  ravage.  It  is  as  a  poet  that  Shakfpere 
writes,  and  his  ftatiftics  are  thofe  not  of  arith- 
metic but  of  poetry. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 

That  he  fliould  have  given  admiration  and 
love  without  meafure  to  a  youth  highborn, 
brilliant,  accomplifhed,  who  fmgled  out  the 
player  for  peculiar  favour,  will  feem  wonderful 
only  to  thofe  who  keep  a  conftant  guard  upon 
their  affections,  and  to  thofe  who  have  no  need 
to  keep  a  guard  at  all.  In  the  Renafcence  epoch 
among  natural  products  of  a  time  when  life  ran 
fwift  and  free,  touching  with  its  current  high  and 
difficult  places,  the  ardent  friendfhip  of  man  with 
man  was  one.  To  elevate  it  above  mere  perfonal 
regard  a  kind  of  Neo-Platonifm  was  at  hand, 
which  reprefented  Beauty  and  Love  incarnated 
in  a  human  creature  as  earthly  vice-gerents  of 
the  Divinity.  *  It  was  then  not  uncommon', 
obferves  the  fober  Dyce,  '  for  one  man  to  write 
verfes  to  another  in  a  ftrain  of  fuch  tender 
affection  as  fully  warrants  us  in  terming  them 
amatory'.  Montaigne,  not  prone  to  take  up 
extreme  pofitions,  writes  of  his  dead  Eftienne 
de  la  Boetie  with  paflionate  tendernefs  which 
will  not  hear  of  moderation.  The  haughtieft 
fpirit  of  Italy,  Michael  Angelo,  does  homage  to 


xxii  INTRODUCTION. 

the  worth  and  beauty  of  young  Tommafo  Cava- 

lieri  in  fuch  words  as  thefe : 

Heavenward  your  fpirit  Jlirreth  me  to  flrain  ; 
E'en  as  you  will  I  blujb  and  blanch  again, 
Freeze  in  the  fun,  burn  'neath  a  frofly  fkyy 
your  will  includes  and  is  the  lord  of  mine. 

The  learned  Languet  writes  to  young  Philip 
Sidney :  *  Your  portrait  I  kept  with  me  fome 
hours  to  feaft  my  eyes  on  it,  but  my  appetite 
was  rather  ihcreafed  than  diminifhed  by  the 
fight'.  And  Sidney  to  his  guardian  friend: 
*  The  chief  object  of  my  life,  next  to  the  ever- 
lafting  bleflednefs  of  heaven,  will  always  be  the 
enjoyment  of  true  friendfhip,  and  there  you  (hall 
have  the  chiefeft  place'.  'Some',  faid  Jeremy 
Taylor,  '  live  under  the  line,  and  the  beams  of 
friendfhip  in  that  pofition  are  imminent  and  per- 
pendicular '.  '  Some  have  only  a  dark  day  and 
a  long  night  from  him  [the  Sun],  fnows  and 
white  cattle,  a  miferable  life  and  a  perpetual 
harveft  of  Catarrhes  and  Confumptions,  apo- 
plexies and  dead  palfies  ;  but  fome  have  fplendid 
fires  and  aromatick  fpices,  rich  wines  and  well 


INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 

». 

digefted  fruits,  great  wit  and  great  courage, 
becaufe  they  dwell  in  his  eye  and  look  in  his 
face  and  are  the  Courtiers  of  the  Sun,  and  wait 
upon  him  in  his  Chambers  of  the  Eaft ;  juft  fo 
it  is  in  friendship'.  Was  Shakfpere  lefs  a  cour- 
tier of  the  fun  than  Languet  or  Michael  Angelo  ? 
If  we  accept  the  obvious  reading  of  the  Son- 
nets, we  muft  believe  that  Shakfpere  at  fome 
time  of  his  life  was  fnared  by  a  woman,  the 
reverfe  of  beautiful  according  to  the  conven- 
tional Elizabethan  ftandard— dark-haired,  dark- 
eyed,  pale-cheeked  (cxxxn.)  ;  (killed  in  touching 
the  virginal  (cxxvm.) ;  flailed  alfo  in  playing  on 
the  heart  of  man ;  who  could  attract  and  repel, 
irritate  and  foothe,  join  reproach  with  carefs 
(CXLV.)  ;  a  woman  faithlefs  to  her  vow  in  wed- 
lock (CLII.).  Through  her  no  calm  of  joy  came 
to  him ;  his  life  ran  quicker  but  more  troubled 
through  her  fpell,  and  (he  mingled  flrange  bitter- 
nefs  with  its  waters.  Miftrefs  of  herfelf  and  of 
her  art,  (he  turned  when  it  pleafed  her  from  the 
player  to  capture  a  more  diftinguiflied  prize,  his 
friend.  For  a  while  Shakfpere  was  kept  in  the 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

torture  of  doubt  and  fufpicion;  then  confeffion 
and  tears  were  offered  by  the  youth.  The 
wound  had  gone -deep  into  Shakfpere's  heart: — 

Love  knows  it  is  a  greater  grief 
To  "bear  love's  wrong  than  hate's  known  injury. 

But,  delivering  himfelf  from  the  intemperance  of 
wrath,  he  could  forgive  a  young  man  beguiled 
and  led  aftray.  Through  further  difficulties  and 
eftrangements  their  friendship  travelled  on  to  a 
fortunate  repofe.  The  feries  of  Sonnets,  which 
,  is  its  record,  climbs  to  a  high  funlit  refting- 
place.  The  other  feries,  which  records  his  paf- 
fion  for  a  dark  temptrefs,  is  a  whirl  of  moral 
chaos.  Whether  to  difmifs  him,  or  to  draw  him 
farther  on,  the  woman  had  urged  upon  him  the 
claims  of  confcience  and  duty ;  in  the  lateft  fon- 
nets — if  this  feries  be  arranged  in  chronological 
order— Shakfpere's  paflion,  grown  bitter  and 
fcornful  (CLI.,  CLII.),  ftrives,  once  for  all,  to  defy 
and  wreftle  down  his  better  will. 

Shakfpere  of  the  Sonnets  is  not  the  Shakfpere 
ferenely  victorious,  infinitely  charitable,  wife  with 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

all  wifdom  of  the  intelled  and  the  heart,  whom 
we  know  through  The  Tempejl  and  King  Henry 
vm.  He  is  the  Shakfpere  of  Venus  &  ^Adonis 
and  Romeo  &  Juliet,  on  his  way  to  acquire  fome 
of  the  dark  experience  of  Meafure  for  Meafure, 
and  the  bitter  learning  of  Troilus  &  CreJJlda. 
Shakfpere's  writings  aflure  us  that  in  the  main 
his  eye  was  fixed  on  the  true  ends  of  life ;  but 
they  do  not  lead  us  to  believe  that  he  was  in- 
acceffible  to  temptations  of  the  fenfes,  the  heart, 
and  the  imagination.  We  can  only  guefs  the 
frailty  that  accompanied  fuch  ftrength,  the  rifles 
that  attended  fuch  high  powers;  immenfe  de- 
mands on  life,  vaft  ardours,  and  then  the  void 
hour,  the  deep  dejedion.  There  appears  to  have 
been  a  time  in  his  life  when  the  fprings  of  faith 
and  hope  had  almoft  ceafed  to  flow;  and  he 
recovered  thefe  not  .by  flying  from  reality  and 
life,  but  by  driving  his  fhafts  deeper  towards  the 
centre  of  things.  So  Ulyfies  was  tranfformed 
into  Profpero,  worldly  wifdom  into  fpiritual  in- 
fight.  Such  ideal  purity  as  Milton's  was  not 
poffeffed  nor  fought  by  Shakfpere ;  among  thefe 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

Sonnets,  one  or  two  might  be  fpoken  by  Mer- 
cutio,  when  his  wit  of  cheveril  was  ftretched  to 
an  ell  broad.  To  compenfate — Shakfpere  knew 
men  and  women  a  good  deal  better  than  did 
Milton,  and  probably  no  patches  of  his  life  are 
quite  as  unprofitably  ugly  as  fome  which  dif- 
figured  the  life  of  the  great  idealift.  His  daughter 
could  love  and  honour  Shakfpere 's  memory. 
Lamentable  it  is,  if  he  was  taken  in  the  toils, 
but  at  lead  we  know  that  he  efcaped  all  toils 
before  the  end.  May  we  dare  to  conjecture  that 
Cleopatra,  queen  and  courtefan,  black  from 
'Phoebus'  amorous  pinches',  a  <lafs  unparal- 
leled ',  has  fome  kinfliip  through  the  imagination 
with  our  dark  lady  of  the  virginal  ?  '  Would  I 
had  never  feen  her ',  fighs  out  Antony,  and  the 
Ihrewd  onlooker  Enobarbus  replies,  '  O,  fir,  you 
had  then  left  unfeen  a  wonderful  piece  of  work ; 
which  not  to  have  been  bleft  withal  would  have 
difcredited  your  travel '. 

Shakfpere  did  not,  in  Byron's  manner,  invite 
the  world  to  gaze  upon  his  trefpafs  and  his 
griefs.  Setting  afide  two  pieces  printed  by  a 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  xxvii 

pirate  in  1599,  not  one  of  thefe  poems,  as  far  as 
we  know,  faw  the  light  until  long  after  they 
were  written,  according  to  the  moft  probable 
chronology,  and  when  in  1609  the  volume 
entitled  *  Shake-fpeares  Sonnets '  was  iffued,  it 
had,  there  is  reafon  to  believe,  neither  the  fuper- 
intendence  nor  the  confent  of  the  author.1  Yet 
their  literary  merits  entitled  thefe  poems  to  pub- 
lication, and  Shakfpere's  verfe  was  popular.  If 
they  were  written  on  fanciful  themes,  why  were 
the  Sonnets  held  fo  long  in  referve  ?  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  were  connected  with  real  per- 
fons,  and  painful  incidents,  it  was  natural  that 
they  fhould  not  pafs  beyond  the  private  friends 
of  their  poffeffor. 

But  the  Sonnets  of  Shakfpere,  it  is  faid,  lack 
inward  unity.  Some  might  well  be  addrefled  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  fome  to  Anne  Hathaway,  fome 
to  his  boy  Hamnet,  fome  to  the  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke or  the  Earl  of  Southampton ;  it  is  impof- 
fible  to  make  all  thefe  poems  (i.-cxxvi.)  apply 

1  The  Quarto  of  1609,  though  not  careleflly  printed,  is 
far  lefs  accurate  than  Venus  &  Adonis,  See  note  on  cxxvi. 


xxviii  INTRODUCTION. 

to  a  fmgle  perfon.  Difficulties  of  this  kind  may 
perplex  a  painful  commentator,  but  would  hardly 
occur  to  a  lover  or  a  friend  living  *  where  the 
beams  of  friendfhip  are  imminent '.  The  youth 
addreffed  by  Shakfpere  is  '  the  mafter-miftrefs  of 
his  paflion '  (xx.)  ;  fumming  up  the  perfections  of 
man  and  woman,  of  Helen  and  Adonis  (LIII.)  ; 
a  liege,  and  yet  through  love  a  comrade;  in 
years  a  boy,  cherifhed  as  a  fon  might  be;  in 
will  a  man,  with  all  the  power  which  rank  and 
beauty  give.  Love,  aching  with  its  own  mono- 
tony, invites  imagination  to  inveft  it  in  changeful 
forms.  Befides,  the  varying  feelings  of  at  leaft 
three  years  (civ.) — three  years  of  lofs  and  gain, 
of  love,  wrong,  wrath,  iorrow,  repentance,  for- 
givenefs,  perfe&ed  union— are  uttered  in  the 
Sonnets.  When  Shakfpere  began  to  write,  his 
friend  had  the  untried  innocence  of  boyhood 
and  an  unfpotted  fame;  afterwards  came  the 
offence  and  the  difhonour.  And  the  loving 
heart  pra&ifed  upon  itfelf  the  piteous  frauds  of 
wounded  affection :  now  it  can  credit  no  evil 
of  the  beloved,  now  it  muft  believe  the  worft. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxix 

While  the  world  knows  nothing  but  praife  of 
one  fo  dear,  a  private  injury  goes  deep  into  the 
foul;  when  the  world  affails  his  reputation, 
ftraightway  loyalty  revives,  and  even  puts  a 
ftrain  upon  itfelf  to  hide  each  imperfection  from 
view. 

A  painftaking  ftudent  of  the  Sonnets,  Henry 
Brown,  was  of  opinion  that  Shakfpere  intended 
in  thefe  poems  to  fatirize  the  fonnet-writers  of 
his  time,  and  in  particular  his  contemporaries, 
Drayton  and  John  Davies  of  Hereford.  Pro- 
feffor  Minto,  while  accepting  the  feries  i.-cxxvi. 
as  of  ferious  import,  regards  the  fonnets  ad- 
dreffed  to  a  woman,  CXXVII.-CLII.  as  '  exercifes 
of  (kill  undertaken  in  a  fpirit  of  wanton  defiance 
and  derifion  of  commonplace'.  Certainly  if 
Shakfpere  is  a  fatirift  in  i.-cxxvi.,  his  irony  is 
deep  ;  the  malicious  fmile  was  not  noticed  during 
two  centuries  and  a  half.  The  poems  are  in 
the  tafte  of  the  time ;  lefs  extravagant  and  lefs 
full  of  conceits  than  many  other  Elizabethan 
collections,  more  diftinguifhed  by  exquifite  ima- 
gination, and  all  that  betokens  genuine  feeling ; 


xxx  INTRODUCTION. 

they  are,  as  far  as  manner  goes,  fuch  fonnets  as 
Daniel  might  have  chofen  to  write  if  he  had  had 
the  imagination  and  the  heart  of  Shakfpere.  All 
that  is  quaint  or  contorted  or  *  conceited '  in 
them  can  be  paralleled  from  paffages  of  early 
plays  of  Shakfpere,  fuch  as  Romeo  &  Juliet,  and 
The  Two  Gentleman  of  Verona,  where  affuredly 
no  fatirical  intention  is  difcoverable.  In  the 
Sonnets  CXXVH.-CLIV.  Shakfpere  addrefles  a 
woman  to  whom  it  is  impoflible  to  pay  the  con- 
ventional homage  of  fonneteers ;  he  cannot  tell 
her  that  her  cheeks  are  lilies  and  rofes,  her  breaft 
is  of  fnow,  her  heart  is  chafte  and  cold  as  ice. 
Yet  he  loves  her,  and  will  give  her  tribute  of 
verfe.  He  prailes.  her  precifely  as  a  woman 
who  without  beauty  is  clever  and  charming,  and 
a  coquette,  would  choofe  to  be  praifed.  True, 
fhe  owns  ho  commonplace  attractions ;  flie  is  no 
pink  and  white  goddefs;  all  her  imperfections 
he  fees ;  yet  (he  can  fafcinate  by  fome  namelefs 
fpell ;  flie  can  turn  the  heart  hot  or  cold ;  if  fhe 
is  not  beautiful,  it  is  becaufe  fomething  more 
rare  and  fine  takes  the  place  of  beauty.  She 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxi 

angers  her  lover  j  he  declares  to  her  face  that 
fhe  is  odious,  and  at  the  fame  moment  he  is  at 
her  feet. 

A  writer  whofe  diftinction  it  is  to  have  pro- 
duced the  largeft  book  upon  the  Sonnets,  Mr. 
Gerald  MafTey,  holds  that  he  has  refcued  Shak- 
fpere's  memory  from  fhame  by  the  difcovery  of 
a  fecret  hiftory  legible  in  thefe  poems  to  rightly 
illuminated  eyes.1  In  1592,  according  to  this 
theory,  Shakfpere  began  to  addrefs  pieces  in 
fonnet-form  to  his  patron  Southampton.  Pre- 
fently  the  Earl  engaged  the  poet  to  write  love 
fonnets  on  his  behalf  to  Elisabeth  Vernon ; 
affuming  alfo  the  feelings  of  Elizabeth  Vernon, 
Shakfpere  wrote  dramatic  fonnets,  as  if  in  her 
perfon,  to  the  Earl.  The  table-book  containing 
Shakfpere's  autograph  fonnets  was  given  by 
Southampton  to  Pembroke,  and  at  Pembroke's 
requeft  was  written  the  dark-woman  feries ;  for 
Pembroke,  although  authentic  hiftory  knows 
nothing  of  the  fads,  was  enamoured  of  Sidney's 
Stella,  now  well  advanced  in  years,  the  unhappy 
1  The  firft  hint  of  this  theory  was  given  by  Mrs.  Jamefon. 


xxxii  INTRODUCTION. 

Lady  Rich.  A  few  of  the  fonnets  which  pafs 
for  Shakfpere's  are  really  by  Herbert,  and  he, 
the  'Mr.  W.  H.'  of  Thorpe's  dedication,  is 
the  'only  begetter',  that  is,  procurer  of  thefe 
pieces  .for  the  publifher.  The  Sonnets  require 
rearrangement,  and  are  grouped  in  an  order  of 
his  own  by  Mr.  Mafley. 

Mr.  Mafley  writes  with  zeal ;  with  a  faith  in 
his  own  opinions  which  finds  fcepticifm  hard  to 
explain  except  on  fome  theory  of  intellectual  or 
moral  obliquity ;  and  he  exhibits  a  wide,  mif- 
cellaneous  reading.  The  one  thing  Mr.  Mafley's 
elaborate  theory  feems  to  me  to  lack  is  fome 
evidence  in  its  fupport.  His  arguments  may 
well  remain  unanfwered.  One  hardly  knows 
how  to  tug  at  the  other  end  of  a  rope  of  fand. 

With  Wordfworth,  Sir  Henry  Taylor,  and  Mr. 
Swinburne,  with  Francois-Victor  Hugo,  with 
Kreyflig,  Ulrici,  Gervinus,  and  Hermann  Ifaac,1 

1  A  learned  and  thoughtful  ftudent  of  the  fonnets,  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  fome  valuable  notes.  See  his 
articles  in  Archi-v  fur  das  Studium  der  Neueren  Sfrachen 
und  literal uren,  1878-79. 


INTROD  UCTION.  xxxiii 

with  Boaden,  Armitage  Brown,  and  Hallam, 
with  Furnivall,  Spalding,  RoiTetti,  and  Palgrave, 
I  believe  that  Shakfpere's  Sonnets  exprefs  his 
own  feelings  in  his  own  perfon.  To  whom 
they  were  addreffed  is  unknown.  We  fliall 
never  difcover  the  name  of  that  woman  who 
for  a  feafon  could  found,  as  no  one  elfe,  the 
inftrument  in  Shakfpere's  heart  from  the  loweft 
note  to  the  top  of  the  compafs.  To  the  eyes  of 
no  diver  among  the  wrecks  of  time  will  that 
curious  talifman  gleam.  Already  when  Thorpe 
dedicated  ihefe  poems  to  their  '  only  begetter', 
fiie  perhaps  was  loft  in  the  quick-moving  life  of 
London,  to  all  but  a  few  in  whofe  memory 
were  ftirred  as  by  a  forlorn,  fmall  wind,  the 
grey  ames  of  a  fire  gone  out.  As  to  the  name 
of  Shakfpere's  youthful  friend  and  patron,  we 
conjecture  on  flender  evidence  at  the  beft.  Set- 
ting claimants  afide  on  whofe  behalf  the  evidence 
is  abfolutely  none,  except  that  their  Chriftian 
name  and  furname  begin  with  a  W  and  an  H, 
two  remain  whofe  pretenfiOns  have  been  fup- 
ported  by  accomplifhed  advocates.  Drake 
4 


xxxiv  1NTK  OD  UCTION. 

(1817),  a  learned  and  refined  writer,  was  the 
firft  to  suggeft  that  the  friend  addreffed  in  Shak- 
fpere's  Sonnets  was  Henry  Wriothefley,  Earl  of 
Southampton,  to  whom  Venus  fr  Adonis  was 
dedicated  in  1593,  and  in  the  following  year 
Lucrece,  in  words  of  flrong  devotion  refembling 
thofe  of  the  twenty-fixth  Sonnet.1  B.  Heywood 
Bright  (1819),  and  James  Boaden  (1832),  in- 
dependently arrived  at  the  conclufion  that  the 
Mr.  W.  H.  of  the  dedication,  the  '  begetter '  or 
infpirer  of  the  Sonnets,  was  William  Herbert, 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  to  whom  with  his  brother, 
as  two  well-known  patrons  of  the  great  drama- 
tift,  his  fellows  Heminge  and  Condell  dedicated 
the  Firft  Folio.  Wriothefley  was  born  in  1573, 
nine  years  after  Shakfpere ;  Herbert  in  1580. 
Wriothefley  at  an  early  age  became  the  lover  of 
Elizabeth  Vernon,  needing  therefore  no  entreaties 
to  marry  (i.-xvn.) ;  he  was  not  beautiful ;  he 

1  Drake  did  not,  as  is  fometimes  ftated,  fuppofe  that 
Mr.  W.  H.  was  Southampton.  '  He  took  « begetter '  to 
mean  obtainer ;  and  left  Mr.  W.  H.  unidentified.  Others 
hold  that  '  W.  H.'  are  the  initials  of  Southampton's  names 
reverfed  as  a  blind  to  the  public. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxv 

bore  no  refemblance  to  his  mother  (in.  9)  ;  his 
life  was  active,  with  varying  fortunes,  to  which 
allufions  might  be  looked  for  in  the  Sonnets, 
fuch  as  may  be  found  in  the  verfes  of  his  other 
poet,  Daniel.  Further,  it  appears  from  the 
punning  Sonnets  (cxxxv.  and  CXLIIL,  fee  Notes), 
that  the  Chriftian  name  of  Shakfpere's  friend  was 
the  fame  as  his  own,  Will,  but  Wriothefley's 
name  was  Henry.  To  Herbert  the  punning 
Sonnets  and  the  'Mr.  W.  H.'  of  the  dedication 
can  be  made  to  apply.  He  was  indeed  a  noble- 
man in  1609,  but  a  nobleman  might  be  ftyled 
Mr. ;  '  Lord  Buckhurft  is  entered  as  M.  Sackville 
in  'England's  Parnaflus'  (Minto);  or  the  Mr. 
may  have  been  meant  to  difguife  the  truth. 
Herbert  was  beautiful;  was  like  his  illuftrious 
mother ;  was  brilliant,  accomplifhed,  licentious  ; 
'the  moft  univerfally  beloved  and  efteemed', 
fays  Clarendon,  'of  any  man  of  his  age'.  Like 
Southampton  he  was  a  patron  of  poets,  and  he 
loved  the  theatre.  In  1599  attempts  were  un- 
fuccefffully  made  to  induce  him  to  become  a 
fuitor  for  the  hand  of  the  Lord  Admiral's 


xxxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

daughter.  So  far  the  balance  leans  towards 
Herbert.  But  his  father  lived  until  1601  (fee 
xm.  and  Notes) ;  Southampton's  father  died 
while  his  fon  was  a  boy ;  and  the  date  of 
Herbert's  birth  (1580),  taken  in  connexion  with 
Meres's  mention  of  Sonnets,  and  the  *  Two 
loves'  of  the  Pajfionate  Pilgrim  Sonnet  (1599), 
CXLIV.,  may  well  caufe  a  doubt. 

A  clue,  which  promifes  to  lead  us  to  clearnefs, 
and  then  deceives  us  into  deeper  twilight,  is  the 
chara&erifation  (LXXVIII.-LXXXVI.)  of  a  rival 
poet  who  for  a  time  fupplanted  Shakfpere  in  his 
patron's  regard.  This  rival,  the  'better  fpirit' 
of  LXXX.,  was  learned  (LXXVIII.)  ;  dedicated  a 
book  to  Shakfpere's  patron  (LXXXII.  and  Notes) ; 
celebrated  his  beauty  and  knowledge  (LXXXII.); 
in  '  hymns '  (LXXXV.)  ;  was  remarkable  for  '  the 
full  proud  fail  of  his  great  verfe '  (LXXXVI., 
LXXX.)  ;  was  taught  '  by  fpirits  '  to  write  '  above 
a  mortal  pitch',  was  nightly  vifited  by  '  an  affable 
familiar  ghoft '  who  '  gulled  him  with  intelli- 
gence' (LXXXVI.).  Here  are  allufions  and 
charaderiftics  which  ought  to  lead  to  identifica- 


INTROD  UCTION.  xxxvii 

tion.  Yet  in  the  end  we  are  forced  to  confefs 
that  the  poet  remains  as  dim  a  figure  as  the 
patron. 

Is  it  Spenfer?  He  was  learned,  but  what 
ghoft  was  that  which  gulled  him?  Is  it  Mar- 
lowe ?  His  verfe  was  proud  and  full,  and  the 
creator  of  Fauftus  may  well  have  had  dealings 
with  his  own  Mephiftophelis,  but  Marlowe  died 
in  May  1593,  the  year  of  Venus  &  Adonis.  Is 
it  Drayton,  or  Nam,  or  John  Davies  of  Here- 
ford ?  Perfons  in  fearch  of  an  ingenioufly  im- 
probable opinion  may  choofe  any  one  of  thefe. 
Is  it  Daniel?  Daniel's  reputation  flood  high; 
he  was  regarded  as  a  mafter  by  Shakfpere  in  his 
early  poems ;  he  was  brought  up  at  Wilton,  the 
feat  of  the  Pembrokes,  and  in  1601  he  infcribed 
his  Defence  of  Ryme  to  William  Herbert ;  the 
Pembroke  family  favoured  aftrologers,  and  the 
ghoft  that  gulled  Daniel  may  have  been  the 
fame  that  gulled  Allen,  Sandford,  and  Dr.  Dee, 
and  through  them  gulled  Herbert.  Here  is  at 
leaft  a  clever  guefs,  and  Boaden  is  again  the 
guefler.  But  Profeffor  Minto  makes  a  guefs 


xxxviii  INTROD  UCTION. 

even  more  fortunate.  No  Elizabethan  poet 
wrote  ampler  verfe,  none  fcorned  'ignorance* 
more,  or  more  haughtily  afferted  his  learning 
than  Chapman.  In  The  Tears  of  Peace  (1609), 
Homer  as  a  fpirit  vifits  and  infpires  him ;  the 
claim  to  fuch  infpiration  may  have  been  often 
made  by  the  tranflator  of  Homer  in  earlier 
years.  Chapman  was  pre-eminently  the  poet  of 
Night.  '  The  Shadow  of  Night',  with  the  motto 
V erf  us  met  babebunt  aliquantum  No  fits,  appeared 
in  1594;  the  title-page  defcribes  it  as  contain- 
ing '  two  poeticall  Hymnes\  In  the  dedication 
Chapman  affails  unlearned  '  paffion-driven  men', 
*  hide-bound  with  affe&ion  to  great  men's 
fancies',  and  ridicules  the  alleged  eternity  of 
their  'idolatrous  platts  for  riches'.  '  Now  what 
a  fupererogation  in  wit  this  is,  to  think  Skill  fo 
mightily  pierced  with  their  loves,  that  fhe  fliould 
proftitutely  mow  them  her  fecrets,  when  fhe  will 
fcarcely  be  looked  upon  by  others,  but  with  in- 
vocation, fafting,  watching ;  yea  not  without 
having  drops  of  their  fouls  like  a  heavenly  fami- 
iar\  Of  Chapman's  Homer  a  part  appeared 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxix 

in  1596;  dedicatory  fonnets  in  a  later  edition 
are  addrefled  to  both  Southampton  and  Pem- 
broke. 

Mr.  W.  H.,  the  only  begetter  of  the  Sonnets, 
remains  unknown.  Even  the  meaning  of  the 
word  '  begetter '  is  in  difpute.  '  I  have  fome 
coufm-germans  at  court',  writes  Decker  in 
Satiromajlix,  'mall  beget  you  the  reverfion  of 
the  mafter  of  the  king's  revels ',  where  beget 
evidently  means  procure.  Was  the  *  begetter '  of 
the  Sonnets,  then,  the  perfon  who  procured 
them  for  Thorpe  ?  I  cannot  think  fo ;  there  is 
fpecial  point  in  the  choice  of  the  word  '  be- 
getter', if  the  dedication  be  addreffed  to  the  per- 
fon who  infpired  the  poems  and  for  whom  they  ; 
were  written.  Eternity  through  offfpring  is  what 
Shakfpere  mod  defires  for  his  friend ;  if  he  will 
not  beget  a  child,  then  he  is  promifed  eternity 
in  verfe  by  his  poet,— in  verfe  *whofe  influence 
is  thine,  and  lorn  of  tbee '  (LXXVIII.).  Thus  was  /"" 
Mr.  W.  H.  the  begetter  of  thefe  poems,  and  from 
the  point  of  view  of  a  complimentary  dedication 
he  might  well  be  termed  the  only  begetter.  „ — 4-~ 


xl  INTRODUCTION. 

I  have  no  fpace  to  confider  fuggeftions  which 
feem  to  me  of  little  weight,— that  W.  H.  is  a 
mifprint  for  W.  S.,  meaning  William  Shakfpere  ; 
that  <  W.  H.  all '  mould  be  read  '  W.  Hall'; 'that 
a  full  flop  mould  be  placed  after  ( wifheth ', 
making  Mr.  W.  H.,  perhaps  William  Herbert  or 
William  Hathaway,  the  wifher  of  happinefs  to 
Southampton,  the  only  begetter  (Ph.  Chafles  and 
Bolton  Corney) ;  nor  do  I  think  we  need  argue 
for  or  againtt  the  fuppofition  of  a  painful 
German  commentator  (Barnftorff),  that  Mr.  W. 
H.  is  none  other  than  Mr.  William  Himfelf. 
When  Thorpe  ufes  the  words  'the  adventurer 
in  fetting  forth,'  perhaps  he  meant  to  compare 
himfelf  to  one  of  the  young  volunteers  in  the 
days  of  Elizabeth  and  James,  who  embarked  on 
naval  enterprifes,  hoping  to  make  their  fortunes 
by  difcovery  or  conqueft ;  fo  he  with  good 
wifhes  took  hisjrifk  on  the  fea  of  public  favour 
in  this  light  venture  of  the  Sonnets.1 

The  date  at  which  the  Sonnets  were  written, 
like  their  origin,  is  uncertain.  In  Willolie's 
1  See  Dr.  Grofart's  Donne,  vol.  ii.  pp.  45-46. 


INTRODUCTION.  xli 

Avifa,  1594,  in  commendatory  verfe  prefixed 
to  which  occurs  the  earlieft  printed  mention  of 
Shakfpere  by  name,  H.  W.  (Henry  Willobie) 
pining  with  love  for  Avifa  bewrays  his  difeafe  to 
his  familiar  friend  W.  S.,  '  who  not  long  before 
had  tried  the  curtefy  of  the  like  paflion,  and  was 
now  new^ly  recovered  of  the  like  infection'. 
W.  S.  encourages  his  friend  in  a  paflion  which 
he  knows  muft  be  hopelefs,  intending  to  view 
this  *  loving  Comedy '  from  far  off,  in  order  to 
learn  *  whether  it  would  fort  to  a  happier  end 
for  this  new  actor  than  it  did  for  the  old  player'. 
From  Canto  XLIV.  to  XLVIII.  of  Avifa,  W.  S.  ad- 
drefles  H.  W.  on  his  love-affair,  and  H.  W. 
replies.  It  is  remarkable  that  Canto  XLvn.  in 
form  and  fubftance  bears  refemblance  to  the 
ftanzas  in  'The  Paflionate  Pilgrim'  beginning 
'When  as  thine  eye  hath  chofe  the  dame'. 
Afluming  that  W.  S.  is  William  Shakfpere,  we 
learn  that  he  had  loved  unwifely,  been  laughed 
at,  and  recovered  from  the  infection  of  his  paflion 
before  the  end  of  1 594.  It  feemed  impoflible  to 
pafs  by  a  poem  which  has  been  defcribed  as 


xlii  INTRODUCTION. 

'the  one  contemporary  book  which  has  ever 
been  fuppofed  to  throw  any  direct  or  indirect 
light  on  the  myftic  matter  '  of  the  Sonnets.  But 
although  the  reference  to  W.  S.,  his  paffion  for 
Avifa  fair  and  chafte,  and  his  recovery,  be 
matter  of  intereft  to  inquirers  after  Shakfpere's 
life,  WiUobiJs  Avifa  feems  to  me  to  have  no 
point  of  connexion  with  the  Sonnefs  of  Shak- 
fpere.1 

Individual  fonnets  have  been  indicated  as  help- 
ing to  afcertain  the  date  : 

I.  It  has  been  confidently  ftated  that  cvn.  con- 
taining the  line 

The  mortal  moon  hath  her  edipfe  endured 
muft  refer  to  the  death  of  Elizabeth  (1603),  the 
poets'    Cynthia ;    but  the  line   may   well  bear 
another  interpretation.     (See  Notes.) 

II.  Mr.    Tyler   (Athenaum,    Sept.   n,   1880) 
ingenioufly  argues  that  the  thought  and  phraf- 

1  The  force  of  the  allufion  to  tragedy  and  comedy  is 
weakened  by  the  fact  that  we  find  in  Alcllia  (1595)  the 
courfe  of  love  fpoken  of  as  a  tragl-comedy,  where  no 
reference  to  a  real  actor  on  the  ftage  is  intendeds  Sic 
incipit  ftultorum  Tragicomoedia. 


INTRODUCTION.  xliii 

ing  of  lines  in  Sonnet  LV.  are  derived  from  a 
paffage  in  Meres's  Palladis  Tamia,  1598,  where 
Shakfpere  among  others  is  mentioned  with 
honour : 

<  As  Ovid  faith  of  his  worke  ; 

Jamque  opus  exegi,  quod  nee  Jovis  ira,  nee  ignis, 
Nee  poterit  ferrum,  nee  edax  dbolere  vetuftas  ; 

And  as  Horace  faith  of  his, 

Exegi  monumentum  aere  perennius, 
Regalique  fitu  pyramidum  altius  ; 
Quod  non  imber  edax,  non  Aquilo  impotent 
PoJJit  diruere,  aut  innumerdbilis 
Annorum  feries  et  fuga  temporum : 

So  fay  I  feverally  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney's,  Spen- 
fer's,  Daniel's,  Drayton's,  Shakefpeare's  and 
Warner's  workes ; 

Nee  Jovis  ira,  imbres,  Mars,ferrum,flamma,feneftus, 
Hoe  opus  unda,  lues,  turbo,  venena  ruent. 

Et  quanquam  ad  pulcherrimum  hoc  opus 
evertendum  tres  illi  Dii  confpirabunt,  Chronus, 
Vulcanus,  et  Pater  ipfe  gentis  ; 

Nee  tamen  annorum  feries,  non  flamma,  nee  enjist 
Aeternum  potuit  hoe  abolere  deeus*. 


xliv  INTRODUCTION. 

III.  The  laft  line  of  Sonnet  xciv. 
Lilies  that  fefter  fmell  far  worfe  than  weeds 

occurs  alfo  in  the  play  King  Edward  in.  (printed 
1596),  in  a  part  of  the  play  afcribed  by  fome 
critics  to  Shakfpere.  We  cannot  fay  for  certain 
whether  the  play  borrows  from  the  fonnet,  or 
the  fonnet  from  the  play.  The  latter  feems  to 
me  the  more  likely  fuppofition  of  the  two. 

The  argument  for  this  or  that  date  from  coin- 
cidences in  expreflion  between  the  Sonnets  and 
certain  plays  of  Shakfpere  has  no  decifive  force. 
Coincidences  may  often  be  found  between  Shak- 
fpere's  late  and  early  plays.  But  the  general 
chara&eriftics  of  ftyle  may  lead  us  to  believe 
that  fome  Sonnets,  as  i.-xxiv.,  belong  to  a 
period  not  later  than  Romeo  &  Juliet ;  others,  as 
LXIV.-LXXIV.,  feem  to  echo  the  fadder  tone  heard 
in  Hamlet  and  Meafure  for  Meafure.  I  cannot 
think  that  any  of  the  Sonnets  are  earlier  than 
Daniel's  'Delia*  (1592),  which,  I  believe,  fup- 
plied  Shakfpere  with  a  model  for  this  form  of 
verfe ;  and,  though  I  can  allege  no  ftrong  evi- 


INTRODUCTION.  xlv 

dence  for  the  opinion,  I  fhould  not  be  difpofed 
to  place  any  later  than  1 60  5 » 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  by  Englifh, 
French,  and  German  ftudents  to  place  the  Son- 
nets in  a  new  and  better  order,  of  which  at- 
tempts no  two  agree  between  themfelves.  That 
the  Sonnets  are  not  printed  in  the  Quarto,  1 609, 
at  haphazard,  is  evident  from  the  fad  that  the 
Envoy,  cxxvi.  is  rightly  placed ;  that  poems 
addrefled  to  a  miftrefs  follow  thofe  addrefled  to 
a  friend ;  and  that  the  two  Cupid  and  Dian  Son- 
nets ftand  together  at  the  clofe.  A  nearer  view 
makes  it  apparent  that  in  the  firft  feries,  i.-cxxvi., 
a  continuous  ftory  is  conducted  through  various 
ftages  to  its  termination;  a  more  minute  in- 
fpedion  difcovers  points  of  contact  or  connexion 
between  fonnet  and  fonnet,  and  a  natural  fe- 
quence  of  thought,  paffion  and  imagery.  We 
are  in  the  end  convinced  that  no  arrangement 
which  has  been  propofed  is  as  good  as  that  of 
the  Quarto.  But  the  force  of  this  remark  feems 
to  me  to  apply  with  certainty  only  to  Sonnets 
i.-cxxvi.  The  fecond  feries,  CXXVH.-CLIV.,  al- 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION. 

though  feme  of  its  pieces  are  evidently  con- 
nected with  thofe  which  ftand  near  them,  does 
not  exhibit  a  like  intelligible  fequence ;  a  better 
arrangement  may  perhaps  be  found ;  or,  it  may 
be,  no  poffible  arrangement  can  educe  order 
out  of  the  ftruggles  between  will  and  judgement, 
between  blood  and  reafon;  tumult  and  chaos 
are  perhaps  a  portion  of  their  life  and  being. 

A  piece  of  evidence  confirming  the  opinion 
here  advanced  will  be  found  in  the  ufe  of  thou 
and  you  by  Shakfpere  as  a  mode  of  addrefs  to 
his  friend.  Why  thou  or  you  is  chofen,  is  not 
always  explicable ;  fometimes  the  choice  feems 
to  be  determined  by  confiderations  of  euphony ; 
fometimes  of  rhyme;  fometimes  intimate  affec- 
tion feems  to  indicate  the  ufe  of  youy  and  refpecV 
ful  homage  that  of  thou ;  but  this  is  by  no 
means  invariable.  What  I  would  call  attention 
to,  however,  as  exhibiting  fomething  like  order 
and  progrefs  in  the  arrangement  of  1609  is 
this :  that  in  the  firft  fifty  fonnets,  you  is  of 
extremely  rare  occurrence,  in  the  fecond  fifty 
you  and  thou  alternate  in  little  groups  of  fonnets, 


INTRODUCTION.  xlvii 

thou  having  ftill  a  preponderance,  but  now  only 
a  flight  preponderance ;  in  the  remaining  twenty- 
fix,  you  becomes  the  ordinary  mode  of  addrefs, 
and  thou  the  exception.  In  the  fonnets  to  a 
miftrefs,  thou  is  invariably  employed.  A  few 
fonnets  of  the  firft  feries  as  LXIII.-LXVIII.  have 
'my  love ',  and  the  third  perfon  throughout.1 

Whether  idealifin-g  reality  or  wholly  fanciful, 
an  Elizabethan  book  of  fonnets  was — not  always, 
but  in  many  inftances — made  up  of  a  chain 
or  feries  of  poems,  in  a  defigned  or  natural 
fequence,  viewing  in  various  afpeds  a  fingle 

1  I  cannot  here  prefent  detailed  ftatiftics.  Thou  and  you 
are  to  be  confidered  only  when  addrefling  friend  or  lover, 
not  Time,  the  Mufe,  etc.  Six  fets  of  fonnets  may  then 
be  diftinguilhed  :  i.  Ufing  thou.  2.  Ufing  you.  3.  Ufing 
neither,  but  belonging  to  a  tbou  group.  4.  Ufing  neither, 
but  belonging  to  a  you  group.  5.  Ufing  neither,  and 
independent.  6.  Ufing  both  (xxiv.).  I  had  hoped  that 
this  inveftigation  was  left  to  form  one  of  my  gleanings. 
But  Profeflbr  Goedeke  in  the  Deutfche  Rundfchau,  March 
1877,  looked  into  the  matter}  his  refults  feem  to  me 
vitiated  by  an  arbitrary  divifion  of  the  fonnets  ufing  neither 
thou  nor  you  into  groups  of  eleven  and  twelve,  and  by  a 
fantaftic  theory  that  Shakfpere  wrote  his  fonnets  in  books 
or  groups  of  fourteen  each. 


xlviii  INTRODUCTION. 

theme,  or  carrying  on  a  3ove-ftory  to  its  ifllie, 
profperous  or  the  reverfe.  Sometimes  advance 
is  made  through  the  need  of  difcovering  new 
points  of  view,  and  the  movement^  always 
delayed,  is  rather  in  a  circuit  than  ftraight  for- 
ward. In  Spenfer's  Amoretti  we  read  the  pro- 
grefs  of  love  from  humility  through  hope  to 
conqueft.  In  Aftropbd  &  Stella,  we  read  the 
ftory  of  paffion  ftruggling  with  untoward  fate, 
yet  at  laft  mattered  by  the  refolve  to  do  high 
deeds  : 

Sweet !  for  a  while  give  refpite  to  my  heart 
Which  pants  as  though  itftill  would  leap  to  thee  ; 
And  on  my  thoughts  give  thy  Lieutenancy 
To  this  great  Caufe. 

In  Parthenophil  &  Parthenophe  the  ftory  is  of 
a  new  love  fupplanting  an  old,  of  hot  and  cold 
fevers,  of  defpair,  and,  as  laft  effort  of"  the  defper- 
ate  lover,  of  an  imagined  attempt  to  fubdue  the 
affections  of  his  cruel  lady  by  magic  art.  But  in 
reading  Sidney,  Spenfer,  Barnes,  and  ftill  more 
Watfon,  Conftable,  Drayton,  and  others,  although 
a  large  element  of  the  art-poetry  of  the  Renafcence 


INTRODUCTION.  xlix 

is  common  to  them  and  Shakfpere,  the  ftudent  of 
Shakfpere's  fonnets  does  not  feel  at  home.  It  is 
when  we  open  Daniel's  '  Delia '  that  we  recognife 
clofe  kinlhip.  The  manner  is  the  fame,  though 
the  mafter  proves  himfelf  of  tardier  imagination 
and  lefs  ardent  temper.  Diction,  imagery,  rhymes, 
and,  in  fonnets  of  like  form,  verification  diftindly 
referable  thofe  of  Shakfpere.  Malone  was  furely 
right  when  he  recognifed  in  Daniel  the  mafter  of 
Shakfpere  as  a  writer  of  fonnets — a  mafter  quickly 
excelled  by  his  pupil.  And  it  is  in  Daniel  that 
we  find  fonnet  ftarting  from  fonnet  almoft  in 
Shakfpere's  manner,  only  that  Daniel  often  links 
poem  with  poem  in  more  formal  wife,  the  laft  or 
the  penultimate  line  of  one  poem  fupplying  the 
firft  line  of  that  which  immediately  follows. 

Let  us  attempt  to  trace  briefly  the  fequence 
of  incidents  and  feelings  in  the  Sonnets  i.-cxxvi. 
A  young  man,  beautiful,  brilliant,  and  accom- 
plifhed,  is  the  heir  of  a  great  houfe;  he  is 
expofed  to  temptations  of  youth,  and  wealth, 
and  rank.  Poffibly  his  mother  defires  to  fee 
him  married ;  certainly  it  is  the  defire  of  his 


1  INTRODUCTION. 

friend.  'I  fhould  be  glad  if  you  were  caught', 
writes  Languet  to  Philip  Sidney,  '  that  fo  you 
might  give  to  your  country  fons  like  yourfelf  '. 
1  If  you  marry  a  wife,  and  if  you  beget  children 
like  yourfelf,  you  will  be  doing  better  fervice 
to  your  country  than  if  you  were  to  cut  the 
throats  of  a  thoufand  Spaniards  and  Frenchmen'. 
'"Sir",  faid  Crcefus  to  Cambyfes',  Languet 
writes  to  Sidney,  now  aged  twenty-four,  "I 
confider  your  father  muft  be  held  your  better, 
becaufe  he  was  the  father  of  an  admirable  prince, 
whereas  you  have  as  yet  no  fon  like  yourfelf".' 
It  is  in  the  manner  of  Sidney's  own  Cecropia 
that  Shakfpere  urges  marriage  upon  his  friend.1 

*  Nature  when  you  were  firft  born,  vowed  you 
a  woman,  and    as    fhe    made   you    child  of  a 
mother,  fo  to  do  your  beft  to  be  mother  of  a 
child'  (Sonnet  xm.   14);  'fliegave  you  beauty 
to  move  love ;  fhe  gave  you  wit  to  know  love ; 
(he  gave  you  an  excellent  body  to  reward  love ; 

1  Arcadia,  Lib.  in.     Noticed    by   Mr.  Mafley  in   his 

*  Shakefpeare's  Sonnets  and  his  Private  Friends ',  pp.  36- 


INTRODUCTION.  li 

which  kind  of  liberal  rewarding  is  crowned  with 
an  unfpeakable  felicity.  For  this  as  it  bindeth 
the  receiver,  fo  it  makes  happy  the  beftower; 
this  doth  not  impoverifh,  but  enrich  the  giver 
(vi.  6).  O  the  comfort  of  comforts,  to  fee  your 
children  grow  up,  in  whom  you  are  as  it  were 
eternifed !  .  .  .  Have  you  feen  a  pure  Rofe-water 
kept  in  a  cryftal  glafs,  how  fine  it  looks,  how 
fweet  it  fmells,  while  that  beautiful  glafs  im- 
prifons  it !  Break  the  prifon  and  let  the  water 
take  his  own  courfe,  doth  it  not  embrace  the 
duft,  and  lofe  all  his  former  fweetnefs  and  fair- 
nefs ;  truly  fo  are  we,  if  we  have  not  the  ftay, 
rather  than  the  reflraint  of  Cryftalline  marriage 
(v.)  ;  .  .  .  And  is  a  folitary  life  as  good  as  this  ? 
then,  can  one  firing  make  as  good  mufic  as  a 
confort  (viii.)'. 

In  like  manner  Shakfpere  urges  the  youth  to 
perpetuate  his  beauty  in  offfpring  (i-xvu.).1  But 
if  Witt  refufes,  then  his  poet  will  make  war 
againft  Time  and  Decay,  and  confer  immortality 

1  In  what  follows,  to  avoid  the  confufion  of  he,  and  him, 
call  Shakfpere's  friend,  as  he  is  called  in  cxxxv.,  Will. 


lii  INTRODUCTION. 

upon  his  beloved  one  by  Verfe  (xv.-xix.).  Will 
is  the 'pattern  and  exemplar  of  human  beauty 
(xix.),  so  uniting  in  himfelf  the  perfe&ions  of 
man  and  woman  (xx.) ;  this  is  no  extravagant 
praife  but  fimple  truth  (XXL).  And  fuch  a  being 
has  exchanged  love  with  Shakfpere  (xxn.),  who 
muft  needs  be  filent  with  excefs  of  paffion 
(XXIIL),  cherifhing  in  his  heart  the  image  of  his 
friend's  beauty  (xxiv.),  but  holding  ftill  more 
dear  the  love  from  which  no  unkind  fortune  can 
ever  feparate  him  (xxv.).  Here  affairs  of  his 
own  compel  Shakfpere  to  a  journey  which  re- 
moves him  from  Will  (xxvi.,  xxvu.).  Sleeplefs 
at  night,  and  toiling  by  day,  he  thinks  of  the 
abfent  one  (xxvu.  xxvm.) ;  grieving  for  his 
own  poor  eftate  (xxix.),  and  the  death  of  friends, 
but  finding  in  the  one  beloved  amends  for  all 
^(xxx.,  xxxi.) ;  and  fo  Shakfpere  commends  to 
his  friend  his  poor  verfes  as  a  token  of  affedion 
which  may  furvive  if  he  himfelf  fhould  die 
(XXXIL).  At  this  point  the  mood  changes — in 
his  abfence  his  friend  has  been  falfe  to  friend- 
fiiip  (xxxm.)  ;  now,  indeed,  Will  would  let  the 


INTRODUCTION.  liii 

fimfhine  of  his  favour  beam  out  again,  but  that 
will  not  cure  the  difgrace ;  tears  and  penitence 
are  fitter  (xxxiv.) ;  and  for  fake  of  fuch  tears 
Witt  fhall  be  forgiven  (xxxv.)  ;  but  henceforth 
their  lives  muft  run  apart  (xxxvi.) ;  Shakfpere, 
feparated  from  Will,  can  look  on  and  rejoice  in 
his  friend's  happinefs  and  honour  (xxxvn.), 
fmging  his  praife  in  verfe  (XXXVIIL),  which  he 
could  not  do  if  they  were  fo  united  that  to 
praife  his  friend  were  felf-praife  (xxxix.) ;  fep- 
arated they  muft  be,  and  even  their  loves  be  no 
longer  one;  Shakfpere  can  now  give  his  love, 
even  her  he  loved,  to  the  gentle  thief;  wronged 
though  he  is,  he  will  ftill  hold  Will  dear  (XL.)  ; 
what  is  he  but  a  boy  whom  a  woman  has 
beguiled  (XLI.)  ?  and  for  both,  for  friend  and 
miftrefs,  in  the  midft  of  his  pain,  he  will  try  to 
feign  excufes  (XLIL).  Here  there  feems  to  be 
a  gap  of  time.  The  Sonnets  begin  again  in 
abfence,  and  fome  ftudents  have  called  this, 
perhaps  rightly,  the  Second  Abfence  (XLIIL, 
fqq.).  His  friend  continues  as  dear  as  ever,  but 
confidence  is  fhaken,  and  a  deep  diftruft  begins 


liv  INTRODUCTION. 

to  grow  (XL viii.).  What  right  indeed  has  a 
poor  player  to  claim  conftancy  and  love  (XLIX.)  ? 
He  is  on  a  journey  which  removes  him  from 
Witt  (L.  LI.).  His  friend  perhaps  profefles  un- 
fhaken  loyalty,  for  Shakfpere  now  takes  heart, 
and  praifes  WilVs  truth  (LIII.  LIV.)— takes  heart, 
and  believes  that  his  own  verfe  will  for  ever 
keep  that  truth  in  mind.  He  will  endure  the 
pain  of  abfence,  and  have  no  jealous  thoughts 
(LVII.  LVIIL);  driving  to  honour  his  friend  in 
fong  better  than  ever  man  was  honoured  before 
(LIX.);  in  fong  which  fhall  outlaft  the  revolu- 
tions of  time  (LX.).  Still  he  cannot  quite  get 
rid  of  jealous  fears  (LXI.)  ;  and  yet,  what  right 
has  one  fo  worn  by  years  and  care  to  claim  all 
a  young  man's  love  (LXII.)  ?  Witt,  too,  in  his 
turn  muft  fade,  but  his  beauty  will  furvive  in 
verfe  (LXIII.).  Alas!  to  think  that  death  will 
take  away  the  beloved  one  (LXIV.)  ;  nothing  but 
Verfe  can  defeat  time  and  decay  (LXV.).  For 
his  own  part  Shakfpere  would  willingly  die, 
were  it  not  that,  dying,  he  would  leave  his 
friend  alone  in  an  evil  world  (LXVI.).  Why 


INTRODUCTION.  Iv 

fhould  one  fo  beautiful  live  to  grace  this  ill 
world  (LXVII.)  except  as  a  furvival  of  the  genuine 
beauty  of  the  good  old  times  (LXVIII.)  ;  yet 
beautiful  as  he  is,  he  is  blamed  for  carelefs 
living  (LIX.),  but  furely  this  muft  be  flander 
(LXX.).  Shakfpere  here  returns  to  the  thought 
of  his  own  death ;  when  I  leave  this  vile  world, 
he  fays,  let  me  be  forgotten  (LXXI.  LXXII.)  ;  and 
my  death  is  not  very  far  off  (LXXIII.)  ;  but  when 
I  die  my  fpirit  ftill  lives  in  my  verfe  (LXXIV.). 
A  new  group  feems  to  begin  with  LXXV.  Shak- 
fpere loves  his  friend  as  a  mifer  loves  his  gold, 
fearing  it  may  be  ftolen  (fearing  a  rival  poet?). 
His  verfe  is  monotonous  and  old-fafhioned  (not 
Kke  the  rival's  verfe  ?)  (LXXVI.)  ;  fo  he  fends 
Will  his  manufcript  book  unfilled,  which  Will 
may  fill,  if  he  pleafe,  with  verfe  of  his  own; 
Shakfpere  choofes  to  fmg  no  more  of  Beauty  and 
of  Time ;  Will's  glafs  and  dial  may  inform  him 
henceforth  on  thefe  topics  (LXXVII.)  The  rival 
poet  has  now  won  the  firft  place  in  Will's  efteem 
(LXXVIII.-LXXXVL).  Shakfpere  muft  bid  his 
friend  farewell  (LXXXVIL).  If  Will  fhould  fcorn 


Ivi  INTRODUCTION. 

him,  Shakfpere  will  fide  againft  himfelf  (LXXXVIII. 
LXXXIX.).  But  if  his  friend  is  ever  to  hate  him, 
let  it  be  at  once,  that  the  bitternefs  of  death  may 
foon  be  paft  (xc.).  He  has  dared  to  fay  fare- 
well, yet  his  friend's  love  is  all  the  world  to 
Shakfpere,  and  the  fear  of  lofmg  him  is  mifery 
(xci.) ;  but  he  cannot  really  lofe  his  friend,  for 
death  would  come  quickly  to  fave  him  from  fuch 
grief;  and  yet  Will  may  be  falfe  and  Shakfpere 
never  know  it  (xcn.) ;  fo  his  friend,  fair  in 
feeming,  falfe  within,  would  be  like  Eve's  apple 
•  (xcni.) ;  it  is  to  fuch  felf-contained,  pamonlefs 
perfons  that  nature  entrufts  her  rareft  gifts  of 
grace  and  beauty;  yet  vicious  felf-indulgence 
will  fpoil  the  faireft  human  foul  (xciv.).  So  let 
Will  beware  of  his  youthful  vices,  already 
whifpered  by  the  lips  of  men  (xcv.) ;  true,  he 
makes  graces  out  of  faults,  yet  this  fhould  be 
kept  within  bounds  (xcvi.).  Here  again,  per- 
haps, is  a  gap  of  time.1  Sonnets  XCVIL-XCIX. 
1  The  laft  two  lines  of  xcvi. — not  very  appropriate  I 
think  in  that  fonnet — are  identical  with  the  laft  two  lines 
of  xxxvi.  It  occurs  to  me  as  a  poffibility  that  the  MS.  in 
Thorpe's  hands  may  here  have  been  imperfect,  and  that 


INTRODUCTION.  Ivii 

are  written  in  abfence,  which  feme  ftudents, 
perhaps  rightly,  call  Third  Abfence.  Thefe 
three  fonnets  are  full  of  tender  affection,  but  at 
the  clofe  of  xcix.  allufion  is  made  to  Will's 
vices,  the  canker  in  the  rofe.  After  this  followed 
a  period  of  filence.  In  c.  love  begins  to  renew 
itfelf,  and  fong  awakes.  Shakfpere  excufes  his 
filence  (ci.) ;  his  love  has  grown  while  he  was 
filent  (en.)  ;  his  friend's  lovelinefs  is  better  than 
all  fong  (cm.) ;  three  years  have  paffed  fince 
firft  acquaintance  ;  Witt  looks  as  young  as  ever, 
yet  time  muft  infenfibly  be  altering  his  beauty 
(civ.).  Shakfpere  fmgs  with  a  monotony  of 
love  (cv.).  All  former  fingers  praifmg  knights 
and  ladies  only  prophefied  concerning  Witt 
(cvi.)  ;  grief  and  fear  are  paft  ;  the  two  friends 
are  reconciled  again;  and  both  live  for  ever 
united  in  Shakfpere's  verfe  (cvn.).  Love  has 
conquered  time  and  age,  which  deftroy  mere 
beauty  of  face  (GVIII.).  Shakfpere  confeffes  his 
errors,  but  now  he  has  returned  to  his  home 

he  filled  it  up  fo  far  as  to  complete  xcvi.  with  a  couplet 
from  an  earlier  fonnet. 


Iviii  INTRODUCTION. 

of  love  (cix.),  he  will  never  wander  again  (ex.) ; 
and  his  paft  faults  were  partly  caufed  by  his 
temptations  as  a  player  (cxi.)  ;  he  cares  for  no 
blame  and  no  praife  now  except  thofe  of  his 
friend  (CXIL).  Once  more  he  is  abfent  from 
his  friend  (Fourth  Abfence?),  but  full  of  loving 
thought  of  him  (cxin.  cxiv.).  Love  has  grown 
and  will  grow  yet  more  (cxv.).  Love  is  uncon- 
querable by  Time  (cxvi.).  Shakfpere  confefles 
again  his  wanderings  from  his  friend;  they 
were  lefts  of  Will's  conftancy  (cxvn.) ;  and 
they  quickened  his  own  appetite  for  genuine 
love  (cxvm.).  Ruined  love  rebuilt  is  ftronger 
than  at  firft  (cxix.) ;  there  were  wrongs  on  both 
fides  and  muft  now  be  mutual  forgiven efs  (cxx.). 
Shakfpere  is  not  , to  be  jtfdged  by  the  report  of 
malicious  cenfors  (cxxi.) ;  he  has  given  away 
his  friend's  prefent  of  a  table-book,  becaufe  he 
needed  no  remembrancer  (cxxn.) ;  records  and 
regifters  of  time  are  falfe  ;  only  a  lover's  memory 
is  to  be  wholly  trufted,  recognifmg  old  things 
in  what  feem  new  (cxxm.) ;  Shakfpere's  love 
is  not  bafed  on  felf-intereft,  and  therefore  is 


INTRODUCTION:  HX 

uninfluenced  by  fortune  (cxxiv.) ;  nor  is  it 
founded  on  external  beauty  of  form  or  face, 
but  is  fimple  love  for  love's  fake  (cxxv.).  Will 
is  dill  young  and  fair,  yet  he  fhould  remember 
that  the  end  muft  come  at  lad  (cxxvi.). 

Thus  the  feries  of  poems  addreffed  to  his 
friend  clofes  gravely  with  thoughts  of  love  and 
death.  The  Sonnets  may  be  divided  at  pleafure 
into  many  fmaller  groups,  but  I  find  it  poffible 
to  go  on  without  interruption  from  I.  to  XXXIL  ; 
from  xxxin.  to  XLII.  \  from  XLIII.  to  LXXIV.  ; 
from  LXXV.  to  xcvi, ;  from  xcvn.  to  xcix. ; 
from  c.  to  cxxvi.1 

I  do  not  here  attempt  to  trace  a  continuous 
fequence  in  the  Sonnets  addrefled  to  the  dark- 
haired  woman  CXXVII.-CLIV.  ;  I  doubt  whether 
fuch  continuous  fequence  is  to  be  found  in 
them;  but  in  the  Notes  fome  points  of  con- 
nexion between  fontiet  and  fonnet  are  pointed 
out. 

1  Perhaps  there  is  a  break  at  LVIII.  The  moft  careful 
ftudies  of  the  fequence  of  the  Sonnets  are  Mr.  Furnivairs 
in  his  preface  to  the  Leopold  Shakfpere,  and  Mr.  Spalding's 
in  The  Gentleman's  Magazine t  March  1878. 


Ix  INTRODUCTION. 

If  Shakfpere  'unlocked  his  heart'  in  thefe 
Sonnets,  what  do  we  learn  from  them  of  that 
great  heart?  I  cannot  anfwer  otherwife  than 
in  words  of  my  own  formerly  written.  '  In 
the  Sonnets  we  recognife  three  things :  that 
Shakfpere  was  capable  of  meafurelefs  perfonal 
devotion  ;  that  he  was  tenderly  fenfitive,  fenfitive 
above  all  to  every  diminution  or  alteration  of 
that  love  his  heart  fo  eagerly  craved ;  and  that, 
when  wronged,  although  he  fuffered  anguifh,  he 
tranfcended  his  private  injury,  and  learned  to 
forgive.  .  .  .  The  errors  of  his  heart  originated 
in  his  fenfitivenefs,  in  his  imagination  (not  at 
firft  inured  to  the  hardnefs  of  fidelity  to  the 
fad),  in  his  quick  confcioufnefs  of  exiftence,  and 
in  the  felf-abandoning  devotion  of  his  heart. 
There  are  fome  noble  lines  by  Chapman  in 
which  he  pictures  to  himfelf  the  life  of  great 
energy,  enthufiafms  and  paflions,  which  for  ever 
ftands  upon  the  edge  of  utmoft  danger,  and  yet 
for  ever  remains  in  abfolute  fecurity : — 

Give  me  a  fpirit  that  on  this  life's  rough  fea 
Loves  to  have  his  fails  fill'd  with  a  lufty  wind 


INTRODUCTION.  hi 

Ev en  till  his  fail-yards  tremble,  his  mafts  crack. 
And  his  rapt  fhip  runs  on  her  fide  fo  low 
That  Jhe  drinks  water,  and  her  keel  ploughs  air  ; 
There  is  no  danger  to  a  man  that  knows 
What  life  and  death  is, — there's  not  any  law 
Exceeds  his  knowledge ;  neither  is  it  lawful 
That  he  Jhould  floop  to  any  other  law. 

Such  a  mafter-fpirit,  prefTmg  forward  under 
{trained  canvas  was  Shakfpere.  If  the  fhip 
dipped  and  drank  water,  Ihe  rofe  again ;  and  at 
length  we  behold  her  within  view  of  her  haven 
failing  under  a  large,  calm  wind,  not  without 
tokens  of  ftrefs  of  weather,  but  if  battered,  yet 
unbroken  by  the  waves'.  The  laft  plays  of 
Shakfpere,  The  Tempeft,  Cymleline,  Winter's  Tale, 
Henry  r///.,  illuminate  the  Sonnets  and  juftify 
the  moral  genius  of  their  writer. 

I  thank  ProfelTor  Atkinfon  for  help  given  in 
reading  the  proof-meets  of  my  Introduction ; 
Mr.  W.  J.  Craig,  for  illuftrations  of  Delete 
words ;  Mr.  Furnivall,  for  hints  given  from  time 
to  time  in  our  difcuflion  by  letter  of  the  group- 
ing of  the  Sonnets.  Mr.  Edmund  GoiTe  and 


Ixii  INTRODUCTION. 

Dr.  Grofart,  for  the  loan  of  valuable  books ;  Mr. 
Halliwell-Phillipps,  for  a  note  on  the  date  of 
Lintott's  reprint ;  Mr.  Hart,  for  feveral  ingenious 
fuggeftions ;  Dr.  Ingleby,  for  fome  guidance  in 
the  matter  of  Shakfpere  portraiture;  and  Mr. 
L.  C.  Purfer,  for  tranflations  of  the  Greek  epi- 
grams conneded  with  Sonnets  CLIIL,  CLIV. 


I. 

From  faired  creatures  we  deflre  increafe, 
That  thereby  beauty's  rofe  might  never  die, 
But  as  the  riper  fhould  by  time  deceafe, 
His  tender  heir  might  bear  his  memory : 
But  thou,  contracted  to  thine  own  bright  eyes, 
Feed'ft  thy  light's  flame  with  felf-fubftantial  fuel, 
Making  a  famine  where  abundance  lies, 
Thyfelf  thy  foe,  to  thy  fweet  felf  too  cruel. 
Thou  that  art  now  the  world's  frefli  ornament 
And  only  herald  to  the  gaudy  fpring, 
Within  thine  own  bud  burieft  thy  content 
And,  tender  churl,  makeft  wafte  in  niggarding. 
Pity  the  world,  or  elfe  this  glutton  be, 
To  eat  the  world's  due,  by  the  grave  and  thee. 


When  forty  winters  fhall  befiege  thy  brow 
And  dig  deep  trenches  in  thy  beauty's  field, 
Thy  youth's  proud  livery,  fo  gazed  on  now, 
Will  be  a  tatter 'd  weed,  of  fmall  worth  held  : 
Then  being  afk'd  where  all  thy  beauty  lies, 
Where  all  the  treafure  of  thy  lufty  days, 
To  fay,  within  thine  own  deep-funken  eyes, 
Were  an  all-eating  fhame  and  thriftlefs  praise. 
How  much  more  praife  deferved  thy  beauty's  use, 
If  thou  couldft  anfwer  *  This  fair  child  of  mine 
Shall  fum  my  count  and  make  my  old  excufe,7 
Proving  his  beauty  by  fucceffion  thine ! 

This  were  to  be  new  made  when  thou  art  old. 
And  fee  thy  blood  warm  when  thou  feel'ft  it  cold. 


SONNETS. 


m. 

v 

Look  in  thy  glafs,  and  tell  the  face  thou  viewed 
Now  is  the  time  that  face  (hould  form  another ; 
Whofe  frefh  repair  if  now  thou  not  renewed, 
Thou  doft  beguile  the  world,  unblefs  fome  mother. 
For  where  is  (he  fo  fair  whofe  unear'd  womb 
Difdains  the  tillage  of  thy  hu(bandry  ? 
Or  who  is  he  fo  fond  will  be  the  tomb 
Of  his  felf-love,  to  flop  pofterity  ? 
Thou  art  thy  mother's  glafs,  and  fhe  in  thee 
Calls  back  the  lovely  April  of  her  prime ; 
So  thou  through  windows  of  thine  age  (halt  fee, 
Defpite  of  wrinkles,  this  thy  golden  time. 
But  if  thou  live,  remembered  not  to  be, 
Die  (ingle,  and  thine  image  dies  with  thee. 


SONNETS. 


rv. 

Unthrifty  lovelinefs,  why  doft  thou  fpend 
Upon  thyfelf  thy  beauty's  legacy  ? 
Nature's  bequeft  gives  nothing,  but  doth  lend, 
And  being  frank,  fhe  lends  to  thofe  are  free  : 
Then,  beauteous  niggard,  why  doft  thou  abufe 
The  bounteous  largefs  given  thee  to  give  ? 
Profitlefs  ufurer,  why  doft  thou  ufe 
So  great  a  fum  of  fums,  yet  canft  not  live  ? 
For  having  traffic,  with  thyfelf  alone, 
Thou  of  thyfelf  thy  fweet  felf  doft  deceive  : 
Then  how,  when  Nature  calls  thee  to  be  gone, 
What  acceptable  audit  canft  thou  leave? 

Thy  unufcd  beauty  muft  be  tomb'd  with  thee, 
Which,  ufed,  lives  th'  executor  to  be. 


SONNETS. 


V. 

Thofe  hours,  that  with  gentle  work  did  frame 
The  lovely  gaze  where  every  eye  doth  dwell, 
Will  play  the  tyrants  to  the  very  fame 
And  that  unfair  which  fairly  doth  excel  ; 
For  never-refting  time  leads  fummer  on 
To  hideous  winter,  and  confounds  him  there  ; 
Sap  check'  d  with  froft,  and  lufty  leaves  quite  gone, 
Beauty  o'erfnow'd  and  barenefs  every  where  : 
Then,  were  not  fummer's  diftillation  left, 
A  liquid  prifoner  pent  in  walls  of  glafs, 
Beauty's  effect  with  beauty  were  bereft, 
Nor  it,  nor  no  remembrance  what  it  was  : 

But  flowers  diftilTd,  though  they  with  winter  meet, 
Leefe  but  their  (how;  their  fubftance  (tin  lives 
fweet. 


SONNETS. 


VI. 

» 

Then  let  not  winter's  ragged  hand  deface 

In  thee  thy  fummer,  ere  thou  be  diftill'd  : 

Make  fweet  fome  vial  ;  treafure  thou  fome  place 

With  beauty's  treafure,  ere  it  be  felf-kill'd. 

That  ufe  is  not  forbidden  ufury, 

Which  happies  thofe  that  pay  the  willing  loan 

That  's  for  thyfelf  to  breed  another  thee, 

Or  ten  times  happier,  be  it  ten  for  one  ; 

Ten  times  thyfelf  were  happier  than  thou  art, 

If  ten  of  thine  ten  times  refigured  thee  ; 

Then  what  could  death  do,  if  thou  fhouldft  depart, 

Leaving  thee  living  in  pofterity  ? 

Be  not  felf-wilTd,  for  thou  art  much  too  fair 
To  be  death's  conqueft  and  make  worms  thine  heir. 


SONNETS. 

< 

7. 

vn. 

Lo,  in  the  orient  when  the  gracious  light 
Lifts  up  his  burning  head,  each  under  eye 
Doth  homage  to  his  new-appearing  fight, 
Serving  with  looks  his  facred  majefty ; 
And  having  climb'd  the  fleep-up  heavenly  hill, 
Refembling  ftrong  youth  in  his  middle  age, 
Yet  mortal  looks  adore  his  beauty  ftill, 
Attending  on  his  golden  pilgrimage ; 
But  when  from  highmoft  pitch,  with  weary  car, 
Like  feeble  age,  he  reeleth  from  the  day, 
The  eyes,  'fore  duteous,  now  converted  are 
From  his  low  trad,  and  look  another  way : 
So  thou,  thyfelf  outgoing  in  thy  noon, 
Unlook'd  on  dieft,  unlefs  thou  get  a  fon. 


SONNETS. 


VIII. 

Mufic  to  hear,  why  hear'ft  thou  mufic  fadly  ? 
Sweets  with  fweets  war  not,  joy  delights  in  joy : 
Why  loveft  thou  that  which  thou  receiveft  not  gladly, 
Or  elfe  receiveft  with  pleafure  thine  annoy  ? 
If  the  true  concord  of  well-tuned  founds, 
By  unions  married,  do  offend  thine  ear, 
They  do  but  fweetly  chide  thee,  who  confounds 
In  fmglenefs  the  parts  that  thou  Ihouldft  bear. 
Mark  how  one  ftring,  fweet  hufband  to  another, 
Strikes  each  in  each  by  mutual  ordering ; 
Refembling  fire  and  child  and  happy  mother, 
Who,  all  in  one,  one  pleating  note  do  iing : 

Whofe  fpeechlefs  fong,  being  many,  feeming  one, 
Sings  this  to  thee  :  'Thou  fmgle  wilt  prove  none.' 


SONNETS. 


IX.     i 

Is  it  fpr  fear  to  wet  a  widow's  eye 
That  thou  confumeft  thyfelf  in  fmgle  life  ? 
Ah  !  if  thou  ifluelefs  fhalt  hap  to  die, 
The  world  will  wail  thee,  like  a  makelefs  wife  ; 
The  world  will  be  thy  widow,  and  ftill  weep 
That  thou  no  form  of  thee  haft  left  behind, 
When  every  private  widow  well  may  keep 
By  children's  eyes  her  hufband's  fhape  in  mind. 
Look,  what  an  unthrift  in  the  world  doth  fpend 
Shifts  but  his  place,  for  ftill  the  world  enjoys  it  ; 
But  beauty's  wafte  hath  in  the  world  an  end, 
And,  kept  unufed,  the  ufer  fo  deftroys  it. 
No  love  toward  others  in  that  bofom  fits 
That  on  himfelf  fuch  murderous  fhame  commits. 


io  SONNETS. 


For  fhame !  deny  that  thou  bear'ft  love  to  any, 
Who  for  thyfelf  art  fo  unprovident. 
Grant,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  art  beloved  of  many, 
But  that  thou  none  loveft  is  moft  evident ; 
For  thou  art  fo  poffefTd  with  murderous  hate 
That  'gainft  thyfelf  thou  ftick'ft  not  to  confpire, 
Seeking  that  beauteous  Foof  to  ruinate 
Which  to  repair  fliould  be  thy  chief  defire. 
O,  change  thy  thought,  that  I  may  change  my  mind ! 
Shall  hate  be  fairer  lodged  than  gentle  love  ? 
Be,  as  thy  prefence  is,  gracious  and  kind, 
Or  to  thyfelf  at  lead  kind-hearted  prove : 
Make  thee  another  felf,  for  love  of  me, 
That  beauty  ftill  may  live  in  thine  or  thee. 


SONNETS.  1  1 


XI. 

As;faft  as  thou  (halt  wane,  fo  faft  thou  grow'ft 
In  one  of  thine,  from  that  which  thou  departeft  ; 
And  that  frefh  blood  which  youngly  thou  beftow'ft 
Thou  mayft  call  thine  when  thou  from  youth  con- 
Herein  lives  wifdom,  beauty  and  increafe  ;    [verteft. 
Without  this,  folly,  age  and  cold  decay  : 
If  all  were  minded  fo,  the  times  fhould  ceafe 
And  threefcore  year  would  make  the  world  away. 
Let  thofe  whom  Nature  hath  not  made  for  ftore, 
Harm,  featurelefs  and  rude,  barrenly  perim  : 
Look,  whom  me  beft  endowM  (he  gave  the  more  ; 
Which  bounteous  gift  thou  (houldft  in  bounty  cherim: 
She  carved  thee  for  her  feal,  and  meant  thereby 
Thou  (houldft  print  more,  nor  let  that  copy  die. 


ia  SONNETS. 


xn. 

When  I  do  count  the  clock  that  tells  the  time, 
And  fee  the  brave  day  funk  in  hideous  night  ; 
When  I  behold  the  violet  paft  prime, 
And  fable  curls  all  filver'd  o'er  with  white  ; 
When  lofty  trees  I  fee  barren  of  leaves, 
Which  erft  from  heat  did  canopy  the  herd, 
And  fummer's  green  all  girded  up  in  (heaves, 
Borne  on  the  bier  with  white  and  briftly  beard, 
Then  of  thy  beauty  do  I  queftion  make, 
That  thou  among  the  waftes  of  time  muft  go, 
Since  fweets  and  beauties  do  themfelves  forfake 
And  die  as  faft  as  they  fee  others  grow  ;          [fence 
And  nothing  'gainft  Time's  fcythe  can  make  de- 
Save  breed,  to  brave  him  when  he  takes  thee  hence. 


SONNETS.  13 


xra.   Y 

O,  that  you  were  yourfelf  P  but,  love,  you  are 
No  longer  yours  than  you  yourfelf  here  live  : 
Againft  this  coming  end  you  fhould  prepare, 
And  your  fweet  femblance  to  fome  other  give  : 
So  fhould  that  beauty  which  you  hold  in  Jeafe 
Find  no  determination  ;  then  you  were 
Yourfelf  again,  after  yourfelf  's  deceafe, 
When  your  fweet  iffue  your  fweet  form  fhould  bear. 
Who  lets  fo  fair  a  houfe  fall  to  decay, 
Which  hufbandry  in  honour  might  uphold 
Againft  the  ftormy  gufts  of  winter's  day 
And  barren  rage  of  death's  eternal  cold  ? 

O,  none  but  unthrifts  !  Dear  my  love,  you  know 
You  had  a  father  :  let  your  fon  fay  fo. 


i4  SONNETS. 


xiv. 

Not  from  the  ftars  do  I  my  judgement  pluck  ; 

And  yet  methinks  I  have  aftronomy, 

But  not  to  tell  of  good  or  evil  luck, 

Of  plagues,  of  dearths,  or  feafons'  quality  ; 

Nor  can  I  fortune  to  brief  minutes  tell, 

Pointing  to  each  his  thunder,  rain  and  wind, 

Or  fay  with  princes  if  it  fhall  go  weH, 

By  oft  predict  that  I  in  heaven  find  .  . 

But  from  thine  eyes  my  knowledge  I  derive, 

And,  conftant  ftars,  in  them  I  read  fuch  art 

As  '  Truth  and  beauty  lhall  together  thrive, 

If  from  thyfelf  to  ftore  thou  wouldft  convert  ;  ' 

Or  elfe  of  thee  this  I  prognofticate  : 

*  Thy  end  is  truth's  and  beauty's  doom  and  date.' 


SONNETS.  15 


XV. 

When  I  confider  every  thing  that  grows 
Holds  in  perfection  but  a  little  moment, 
That  this  huge  ftage  prefenteth  nought  but  (hows 
Whereon  the  ftars  in  fecret  influence  comment  ; 
When  I  perceive  that  men  as  plants  increafe, 
Cheered  and  check'd  even  by  the  felf-fame  fky, 
Vaunt  in  their  youthful  fap,  at  height  decreafe, 
And  wear  their  brave  ftate  out  of  memory  ; 
Then  the  conceit  of  this  inconftant  (lay 
Sets  you  moft  rich  in  youth  before  my  fight, 
Where  wafteful  Time  debateth  with  Decay, 
To  change  your  day  of  youth  to  fullied  night  ; 
And  all  in  war  with  Time  for  love  of  you, 
As  he  takes  from  you,  I  engraft  you  new. 


1 6  SONNETS. 


ft, 

XVI.   V 

But  wherefore  do  not  you  a  mightier  way 
Make  war  upon  this  bloody  tyrant,  Time  ? 
And  fortify  yourfelf  in  your  decay 
With  means  more  blefled  than  my  barren  rime  ? 
Now  (land  you  on  the  top  of  happy  hours, 
And  many  maiden  gardens,  yet  unfet, 
With  virtuous  wifli  would  bear  your  living  flowers 
Much  liker  than  your  painted  counterfeit : 
So  mould  the  lines  of  life  that  life  repair, 
Which  this,  Time's  pencil,  or  my  pupil  pen, 
Neither  in  inward  worth  nor  outward  fair, 
Can  make  you  live  yourfelf  in  eyes  of  men. 

To  give  away  yourfelf  keeps  yourfelf  dill ; 

And  you  muft  live,  drawn  by  your  own  fweet  fkill. 


SONNETS.   .  17 


xvn.    /' 

Who  will  believe  my  verfe  in  time  to  come, 
If  it  were  filTd  with  your  moft  high  deferts  ? 
Though  yet,  heaven  knows,  it  is  but  as  a  tomb 
Which  hides  your  life  and  fhows  not  half  your  parts. 
If  I  could  write  the  beauty  of  your  eyes 
And  in  frefh  numbers  number  all  your  graces, 
The  age  to  come  would  fay  '  This  poet  lies  ; 
Such  heavenly  touches  ne'er  touch'd  earthly  faces.' 
So  mould  my  papers,  yellowed  with  their  age, 
Be  fcorn'd,  like  old  men  of  lefs  truth  than  tongue, 
And  your  true  rights  be  term'd  a  poet's  rage 
And  flretched  metre  of  an  antique  fong  : 

But  were  fome  child  of  yours  alive  that  time, 
You  fliould  live  twice,  in  it  and  in  my  rime. 


1  8  SONNETS. 


xvm. 

Shall  I  compare  thee  to  a  fummer's  day  ? 
Thou  art  more  lovely  and  more  temperate  : 
Rough  winds  do  fhake  the  darling  buds  of  May, 
And  fummer's  leafe  hath  all  too  fhort  a  date  : 
Sometime  too  hot  the  eye  of  heaven  fhines, 
And  often  is  his  gold  complexion  dimm'd  ; 
And  every  fair  from  fair  fometime  declines, 
By  chance  or  nature's  changing  courfe  untrimm'd  ; 
But  thy  eternal  fummer  fhall  not  fade, 
Nor  lofe  pofleffion  of  that  fair  thou  oweft, 
Nor  fhall  death  brag  thou  wander'ft  in  his  lhade, 
When  in  eternal  lines  to  time  thou  grow'ft  ; 
So  long  as  men  can  breathe,  or  eyes  can  fee, 
So  long  lives  this,  and  this  gives  life  to  thee. 


SONNETS.  19 


XIX. 

Devouring  Time,  blunt  thou  the  lion's  paws, 
And  make  the  earth  devour  her  own  fweet  blood; 
Pluck  the  keen  teeth  from  the  fierce  tiger's  jaws, 
And  burn  the  long-lived  phoenix  in  her  blood  ; 
Make  glad  and  forry  feafons  as  thou  fleets, 
And  do  whate'er  thou  wilt,  fwift-footed  Time, 
To  the  wide  world  and  all  her  fading  fweets  ; 
But  I  forbid  thee  one  moft  heinous  crime  : 
O,  carve  not  with  thy  hours  my  love's  fair  brow, 
Nor  draw  no  lines  there  with  thine  antique  pen  ; 
Him  in  thy  courfe  untainted  do  allow 
For  beauty's  pattern  to  fucceeding  men. 

Yet  do  thy  worft,  old  Time  :  defpite  thy  wrong, 
My  love  (hall  in  my  verfe  ever  live  young. 


20  SONNETS. 


xx. 

A  woman's  face  with  Nature's  own  hand  painted 

Haft  thou,  the  mafter-miftrefs  of  my  paffion ; 

A  woman's  gentle  heart,  but  not  acquainted 

With  fhifting  change,  as  is  falfe  women's  fafhion ; 

An  eye  more  bright  than  theirs,  lefs  falfe  in  rolling, 

Gilding  the  objeft  whereupon  it  gazeth ; 

A  man  in  hue  all  hues  in  his  controlling, 

Which  fteals  men's  eyes  and  women's  fouls  amazeth. 

And  for  a  woman  wert  thou  firft  created ; 

Till  Nature,  as  fhe  wrought  thee,  fell  a-doting, 

And  by  addition  me  of  thee  defeated, 

By  adding  one  thing  to  my  purpofe  nothing. 

But  mice  fhe  prick' d  thee  out  for  women's  pleasure, 
Mine  be  thy  love,  and  thy  love's  ufe  their  treafure. 


S&NNETS.  21 


XXI. 

So  is  it  not  with  me  as  with  that  Mufe 

Stirr'd  by  a  painted  beauty  to  his  verfe, 

Who  heaven  itfelf  for  ornament  doth  ufe 

And  every  fair  with  his  fair  doth  rehearfe, 

Making  a  couplement  of  proud  compare, 

With  fun  and  moon,  with  earth  and  fea's  rich  gems, 

With  April's  firft-born  flowers,  and  all  things  rare 

That  heaven's  air  in  this  huge  rondure  hems. 

O,  let  me,  true  in  love,  but  truly  write, 

And  then  believe  me,  my  love  is  as  fair 

As  any  mother's  child,  though  not  fo  bright 

As  thofe  gold  candles  fix'd  in  heaven's  air  : 

Let  them  fay  more  that  like  of  hear-fay  well  ; 

I  will  not  praife  that  purpofe  not  to  fell. 


22  SONNETS. 


XXII. 

My  glafs  fhall  not  perfuade  me  I  am  old, 
So  long  as  youth  and  thou  are  of  one  date ; 
But  when  in  thee  time's  furrows  I  behold, 
Then  look  I  death  my  days  ftiould  expiate. 
For  all  that  beauty  that  doth  cover  thee 
Is  but  the  feemly  raiment  of  my  heart, 
Which  in  thy  breaft  doth  live,  as  thine  in  me : 
How  can  I  then  be  elder  than  thou  art  ? 
O,  therefore,  love,  be  of  thyfelf  fo  wary 
As  I,  not  for  myfelf,  but  for  thee  will ; 
Bearing  thy  heart,  which  I  will  keep  fo  chary 
As  tender  nurfe  her  babe  from  faring  ill. 

Prefume  not  on  thy  heart  when  mine  is  flain ; 

Thou  gaveft  me  thine,  not  to  give  back  again. 


SONNETS. 


xxiir. 

As  an  unperfe&  aftor  on  the  ftage, 
Who  with  his  fear  is  put  befides  his  part, 
Or  ibme  fierce  thing  replete  with  too  much  rage, 
Whofe  ftrength's  abundance  weakens  his  own  heart  ; 
So  I,  for  fear  of  truft,  forget  to  fay 
The  perfed  ceremony  of  love's  rite, 
And  in  mine  own  love's  ftrength  feem  to  decay, 
Overcharged  with  burthen  of  mine  own  love's  might. 
O,  let  my  books  be  then  the  eloquence 
And  dumb  prefagers  of  my  fpeaking  brealt, 
Who  plead  for  love,  and  look  for  recompenfe, 
More  than  that  tongue  that  more  hath  more  exprefTd. 
O,  learn  to  read  what  filent  love  hath  writ  : 
To  hear  with  eyes  belongs  to  love's  fine  wit. 


24  SONNETS. 


XXIV. 

Mine  eye  hath  play'd  the  painter  and  hath  flelPd 
Thy  beauty's  form  in  table  of  my  heart  ; 
My  body  is  the  frame  wherein  'tis  held, 
And  perfpedive  it  is  beft  painter's  art. 
For  through  the  painter  muft  you  fee  his  fkill, 
To  find  where  your  true  image  pictured  lies, 
Which  in  my  bofom's  fhop  is  hanging  ftill, 
That  hath  his  windows  glazed  with  thine  eyes. 
Now  fee  what  good  turns  eyes  for  eyes  have  done  : 
Mine  eyes  have  drawn  thy  fhape,  and  thine  for  me 
Are  windows  to  my  breaft,  where-through  the  sun 
Delights  to  peep,  to  gaze  therein  on  thee  ; 

Yet  eyes  this  cunning  want  to  grace  their  art, 
They  draw  but  what  they  fee,  know  not  the  heart. 


SONNETS.  25 


XXV. 

Let  thofe  who  are  in  favour  with  their  ftars 
Of  public  honour  and  proud  titles  boaft, 
Whilft  I,  whom  fortune  of  fuch  triumph  bars, 
Unlook'd  for  joy  in  that  I  honour  moft. 
Great  princes'  favourites  their  fair  leaves  fpread 
But  as  the  marigold  at  the  fun's  eye, 
And  in  themfelves  their  pride  lies  buried, 
For  at  a  frown  they  in  their  glory  die. 
The  painful  warrior  famoufed  for  fight, 
After  a  thoufand  victories  once  foil'd, 
Is  from  the  book  of  honour  razed  quite, 
And  all  the  reft  forgot  for  which  he  toil'd  : 
Then  happy  I,  that  love  and  am  beloved 
Where  I  may  not  remove  nor  be  removed. 


26  SONXETS. 


XXVI. 

Lord  of  my  love,  to  whom  in  vaflalage 

Thy  merit  hath  my  duty  ftrongly  knit, 

To  thee  I  fend  this  written  ambaflage, 

To  witnefs  duty,  not  to  fhow  my  wit : 

Duty  fo  great,  which  wit  fo  poor  as  mine 

May  make  feem  bare,  in  wanting  words  to  fhow  it, 

But  that  I  hope  fome  good  conceit  of  thine 

In  thy  foul's  thought,  all  naked,  will  beftow  it ; 

Till  whatfoever  ftar  that  guides  my  moving 

Points  on  me  gracioufly  with  fair  afpeft, 

And  puts  apparel  on  my  tatter'd  loving, 

To  fhow  me  worthy  of  thy  fweet  refpeft  : 

Then  may  I  dare  to  boaft  how  I  do  love  thee ; 

Till  then  not  fhow  my  head  where  thou  mayft 
prove  me. 


SONNETS.  27 

27  - 

XXVII. 

Weary  with  toil,  I  hafte  me  to  my  bed, 
The  dear  repofe  for  limbs  with  travel  tired ; 
But  then  begins  a  journey  in  my  head 
To  work  my  mind,  when  body's  work  *s  expired  : 
For  then  my  thoughts,  from  far  where  I  abide, 
Intend  a  zealous  pilgrimage  to  thee, 
And  keep  my  drooping  eyelids  open  wide, 
Looking  on  darknefs  which  the  blind  do  fee : 
Save  that  my  foul's  imaginary  fight 
Prefents  thy  fhadow  to  my  fightlefs  view, 
Which,  like  a  jewel  hung  in  ghaftly  night, 
Makes  black  night  beauteous  and  her  old  face  new. 
Lo,  thus,  by  day  my  limbs,  by  night  my  mind, 
For  thee,  and  for  myfelf  no  quiet  find. 


28  SONNETS. 


xxvm. 

How  can  I  then  return  in  happy  plight, 
That  am  debarr'd  the  benefit  of  reft? 
When  day's  oppreffion  is  not  eafed  by  night, 
But  day  by  night,  and  night  by  day,  opprefTd  ; 
And  each,  though  enemies  to  cither's  reign, 
Do  in  confent  (hake  hands  to  torture  me, 
The  one  by  toil,  the  other  to  complain 
How  far  I  toil,  ftill  farther  off  from  thee  ? 
I  tell  the  day,  to  pleafe  him,  thou  art  bright 
And  doft  him  grace  when  clouds  do  blot  the  heaven  : 
So  flatter  I  the  fwart-complexion'd  night  ; 
When  fparkling  ftars  twire  not  thou  gild'ft  the  even. 
But  day  doth  daily  draw  my  forrows  longer, 
And  night  doth  nightly  make  griefs  length  seem 
ftronger. 


SONNETS.  29 


XXIX. 

When,  in  difgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes, 
I  all  alone  beweep  my  outcaft  ftate, 
And  trouble  deaf  heaven  with  my  bootlefs  cries, 
And  look  upon  myfelf,  and  curfe  my  fate, 
Wifhing  me  like  to  one  more  rich  in  hope, 
Featured  like  him,  like  him  with  friends  poflefTd, 
Defiring  this  man's  art,  and  that  man's  fcope, 
With  what  I  moft  enjoy  contented  leaft ; 
Yet  in  thefe  thoughts  myfelf  almoft  defpifmg, 
Haply  I  think  on  thee,  and  then  my  ftate, 
Like  to  the  lark  at  break  of  day  arifmg 
From  fullen  earth,  fmgs  hymns  at  heaven's  gate : 
For  thy  fweet  love  rememb'red  fuch  wealth  brings 
That  then  I  fcorn  to  change  my  ftate  with  kings. 


3o  SONNETS. 


0         xxx. 

When  to  the  feffions  of  fweet  filent  thought* 

I  fummon  up  remembrance  of  things  paft, 

I  figh  the  lack  of  many  a  thing  I  fought, 

And  with  old  woes  new  wail  my  dear  time's  wafte  : 

Then  can  I  drown  an  eye,  unufed  to  flow, 

For  precious  friends  hid  in  death's  datelefs  night, 

And  weep  afrefh  love's  long  fmce  cancell'd  woe, 

And  moan  the  expenfe  of  many  a  vanifh'd  fight : 

Then  can  I  grieve  at  grievances  foregone, 

And  heavily  from  woe  to  woe  tell  o'er 

The  fad  account  of  fore-bemoaned  moan, 

Which  I  new  pay  as  if  not  paid  before. 

But  if  the  while  I  think  on  thee,  dear  friend, 
All  loffes  are  reftored  and  forrows  end. 


SONNETS.  31 

31 

XXXI. 

Thy  bofom  is  endeared  with  all  hearts, 
Which  J  by  lacking  have  fuppofed  dead ; 
And  there  reigns  Love,  and  all  Love's  loving  parts. 
And  all  thofe  friends  which  I  thought  buried. 
How  many  a  holy  and  obfequious  tear 
Hath  dear  religious  love  ftol'n  from  mine  eye, 
As  intereft  of  the  dead,  which  now  appear 
But  things  removed  that  hidden  in  thee  lie ! 
Thou  art  the  grave  where  buried  love  doth  live, 
Hung  with  the  trophies  of  my  lovers  gone, 
Who  all  their  parts  of  me  to  thee  did  give ; 
That  due  of  many  now  is  thine  alone : 
Their  images  I  loved  I  view  in  thee, 
And  them,  all  they,  .haft  all  the  all  of  me. 


32  SONNETS. 

32-       .       ' 

XXXII. 

If  thou  furvive  my  well-contented  day, 
When  that  churl  Death  my  bones  with  dud  (hall 
And  malt  by  fortune  once  more  re-furvey      [cover, 
Thefe  poor  rude  lines  of  thy  deceafed  lover, 
Compare  them  with  the  bettering  of  the  time, 
And  though  they  be  outftripp'd  by  every  pen, 
Referve  them  for  my  love,  not  for  their  rime, 
Exceeded  by  the  height  of  happier  men. 
O,  then  vouchfafe  me  but  this  loving  thought : 
'Had  my  friend's  Mufe  grown  with  this  growing 
A  dearer  birth  than  this  his  love  had  brought,  [age, 
To  march  in  ranks  of  better  equipage : 
But  fmce  he  died,  and  poets  better  prove, 
Theirs  for  their  ftyle  I  '11  read,  his  for  his  love.' 


SONNETS.  3j 


XXXIIL 

Full  many  a  glorious  morning  have  I  feen 
Flatter  the  mountain  tops  with  fovereign  eye, 
Rifling  with  golden  face  the  meadows  green, 
Gilding  pale  ftreams  with  heavenly  alchemy  ; 
Anon  permit  the  bafeft  clouds  to  ride 
With  ugly  rack  on  his  celeftial  face, 
And  from  the  forlorn  world  his  vifage  hide, 
Stealing  unfeen  to  weft  with  this  difgrace  : 
Even  fo  my  fun  one  early  mprn  did  Ihine 
With  all-triumphant  fplendour  on  my  brow  ; 
But,  out,  alack  !  he  was  but  one  hour  mine, 
The  region  cloud  hath  mafk'd  him  from  me  now. 

Yet  him  for  this  my  love  no  whit  difdaineth  ; 

Suns  of  the  world  may  ftain  when  heaven's  fun 
ftaineth. 


34  SONNETS, 

34- 

xxxrv. 

Why  didft  thou  promife  fuch  a  beauteous  day, 
And  make  me  travel  forth  without  my  cloak, 
To  let  bafe  clouds  o'ertake  me  in  my  way, 
Hiding  thy  bravery  in  their  rotten  fmoke  ? 
'Tis  not  enough  that  through  the  cloud  thou  break, 
To  dry  the  rain  on  my  florin-beaten  face, 
For  no  man  well  of  fuch  a  falve  can  fpeak 
That  heals  the  wound  and  cures  not  the  difgrace : 
Nor  can  thy  fliame  give  phyfic  to  my  grief; 
Though  thou  repent,  yet  I  have  flill  the  lofs : 
The  offender's  forrow  lends  but  weak  relief 
To  him  that  bears  the  ftrong  offence's  crofs. 

Ah,  but  thofe  tears  are  pearl  which  thy  love  flieds, 
And  they  are  rich  and  ranfom  all  ill  deeds. 


SONNETS. 


XXXV. 

No  more  be  grieved  at  that  which  thoii  haft  done  : 
Rofes  have  thorns,  and  filver  fountains  mud  ; 
Clouds  and  eclipfes  ftain  both  moon  and  fun, 
And  loathfome  canker  lives  in  fweeteft  bud. 
All  men  make  faults,  and  even  I  in  this, 
Authorizing  thy  trefpafs  with  compare, 
Myfelf  corrupting,  falving  thy  amifs, 
Excufmg  thy  fins  more  than  thy  fins  are  ; 
For  to  thy  fenfual  fault  I  bring  in  fenfe  — 
Thy  adverfe  party  i£  thy  advocate  — 
And  'gainft  myfelf  a  lawful  plea  commence  : 
Such  civil  war  is  in  my  love  and  hate, 

That  I  an  acceffary  needs  muft  be 

To  that  fweet  thief  which  fourly  robs  from  me. 


36  SONNETS. 


XXXVI. 

Let  me  confefs  that  we  two  mufl  be  twain, 
Although  our  undivided  loves  are  one  : 
So  ftiall  thofe  blots  that  do  with  me  remain, 
Without  thy  help,  by  me  be  borne  alone. 
In  our  two  loves  there  is  but  one  refpecl:, 
Though  in  our  lives  a  feparable  fpite, 
Which,  though  it  alter  not  love's  fole  effeft,  - 
Yet  doth  it  Heal  fweet  hours  from  love's  delight. 
I  may  not  evermore  acknowledge  thee, 
Left  my  bewailed  guilt  fhould  do  thee  fhame, 
Nor  thou  with  public  kindnefs  honour  me, 
Unlefs  thou  take  that  honour  from  thy  name  : 

But  do  not  fo  ;  I  love  thee  in  fuch  fort 
.   As,  thou  being  mine,  mine  is  thy  good  report. 


SONNETS.  37 


xxxvn. 

As  a  decrepit  father  takes  delight 
To  fee  his  adive  child  do  deeds  of  youth, 
So  I,  made  lame  by  fortune's  deareft  fpite, 
Take  all  my  comfort  of  thy  worth  and  truth  ; 
For  whether  beauty,  birth,  or  wealth,  or  wit, 
Or  any  of  thefe  all,  or  all,  or  more, 
Entitled  in  thy  parts  do  crowned  fit, 
I  make  my  love  engrafted  to  this  {lore  : 
So  then  I  am  not  lame,  poor,  nor  defpifed, 
Whilft  that  this  fhadow  doth  fuch  fubftance  give 
That  I  in  thy  abundance  am  fufficed 
And  by  a  part  of  all  thy  glory  live. 

Look,  what  is  beft,  that  beft  I  wifh  in  thee  : 
This  wifh  I  have  ;  then  ten  times  happy  me  1 


3  8  SONNETS. 


xxxvm. 

How  can  my  Mufe  want  fubject  to  invent, 

t 
While  thou  doft  breathe,  that  pour'ft  into  my  verfe 

Thine  own  fweet  argument,  too  excellent 

For  every  vulgar  paper  to  rehearfe  ? 

O,  give  thyfelf  the  thanks,  if  aught  in  me 

Worthy  perufal  ftand  againft  thy  fight  ; 

For  who  's  fo  dumb  that  cannot  write  to  thee, 

When  thou  thyfelf  doft  give  invention  light  ? 

Be  thou  the  tenth  Mufe,  ten  times  more  in  worth 

Than  thofe  old  nine  which  rimers  invocate  ; 

And  he  that  calls  on  thee,  let  him  bring  forth 

Eternal  numbers  to  outlive  long  date. 

If  my  flight  Mufe  do  pleafe  thefe  curious  days, 
The  pain  be  mine,  but  thine  fhall  be  the  praife. 


SONNETS.  59 


XXXIX. 

O,  how  thy  worth  with  manners  may  I  {ing, 
When  thou  art  all  the  better  part  of  me  ? 
What  can  mine  own  praife  to  mine  own  felf  bring  ? 
And  what  is  't  but  mine  own  when  I  praife  thee  ? 
Even  for  this  let  us  divided  live, 
And  our  dear  love  lofe  name  of  fmgle  one, 
That  by  this  feparation  I  may  give 
That  due  to  thee  which  thou  deferveft  alone. 
O  abfence,  what  a  torment  wouldft  thou  prove, 
Were  it  not  thy  four  leifure  gave  fweet  leave 
To  entertain  the  time  with  thoughts  of  love, 
Which  time  and  thoughts  fo  fweetly  doth  deceive, 
And  that  thou  teacheft  how  to  make  one  twain, 
By  praifmg  him  here  who  doth  hence  remain  ! 


40  SONNETS. 


XL. 

Take  all  my  loves,  my  love,  yea,  take  them  all  ; 
What  haft  thou  then  more  than  thou  hadft  before  ? 
No  love,  my  love,  that  thou  mayft  true  love  call  ; 
All  mine  was  thine  before  thou  hadft  this  more. 
Then  if  for  my  love  thou  my  love  receiveft, 
I  cannot  blame  thee  for  my  love  thou  ufeft  ; 
But  yet  be  blamed,  if  thou  thyfelf  deceiveft 
By  wilful  tafte  of  what  thyfelf  refufeft. 
I  do  forgive  thy  robbery,  gentle  thief, 
Although  thou  fteal  thee  all  my  poverty  ; 
And  yet  love  knows  it  is  a  greater  grief 
To  bear  love's  wrong  than  hate's  known  injury. 
Lafcivious  grace,  in  whom  all  ill  well  fhows, 
Kill  me  with  fpites  ;  yet  we  muft  not  be  foes. 


SONNETS.  41 


XLI. 

Thofe  pretty  wrongs  that  liberty  commits, 
When  I  am  fometime  abfent  from  thy  heart, 
Thy  beauty  and  thy  years  full  well  befits, 
For  ftill  temptation  follows  where  thou  art. 
Gentle  thou  art,  and  therefore  to  be  won, 
Beauteous  thou  art,  therefore  to  be  affailed  ; 
And  when  a  woman  woos,  what  woman's  fon 
Will  fourly  leave  her  till  (he  have  prevailed  ? 
Ay  me  !  but  yet  thou  migjitft  my  feat  forbear, 
And  chide  thy  beauty  and  thy  ftraying  youth, 
Who  lead  thee  in  their  riot  even  there 
Where  thou  art  forced  to  break  a  twofold  truth, 
Hers,  by  thy  beauty  tempting  her  to  thee, 
Thine,  by  thy  beauty  being  falfe  to  me. 


42  SONNETS. 


XLII. 

That  thou  haft  her,  it  is  not  all  my  grief, 

And  yet  it  may  be  faid  I  loved  her  dearly  ; 

That  me  hath  thee,  is  of  my  wailing  chief, 

A  lofs  in  love  that  touches  me  more  nearly. 

Loving  offenders,  thus  I  will  excufe  ye  : 

Thou  doft  love  her,  becaufe  thou  know'ft  I  love  her  ; 

And  for  my  fake  even  fo  doth  fhe  abufe  me, 

Suffering  my  friend  for  my  fake  to  approve  her. 

If  I  lofe  thee,  my  lofs  is  my  love's  gain, 

And  lofing  her,  my  friend  hath  found  that  lofs  ; 

Both  find  each  other,  and  I  lofe  both  twain, 

And  both  for  my  fake  lay  on  me  this  crofs  : 

But  here  's  the  joy  ;  my  friend  and  I  are  one  ; 

Sweet  flattery  !  then  fhe  loves  but  me  alone. 


SONNETS.  4$ 


XLIII. 

When  moft  I  wink,  then  do  mine  eyes  beft  fee, 
For  all  the  day  they  view  things  unrefpected  ; 
But  when  I  fleep,  in  dreams  they  look  on  thee, 
And,  darkly  bright,  are  bright  in  dark  directed. 
Then  thou,  whofe  fhadow  fhadows  doth  make  bright, 
How  would  thy  fhadow's  form  form  happy  fhow 
To  the  clear  day  with  thy  much  clearer  light, 
When  to  unfeeing  eyes  thy  lhade  fhines  fo  ! 
How  would,  I  fay,  mine  eyes  be  bleffed  made 
By  looking  on  thee  in  the  living  day, 
When  in  dead  night  thy  fair  imp  erf  eel:  fhade 
Through  heavy  fleep  on  fightlefs  eyes  doth  flay  ! 
All  days  are  nights  to  fee  till  I  fee  thee, 
And  nights  bright  days  when  dreams  do  fhow  thee 
me. 


44  SONNETS. 


XLIV. 

If  the  dull  fubftance  of  my  flefli  were  thought, 
Injurious  diftance  fhould  not  flop  my  way  ; 
For  then,  defpite  of  fpace,  I  would  be  brought, 
From  limits  far  remote,  where  thou  doft  flay, 
No  matter  then  although  my  foot  did  ftan4 
Upon  the  fartheft  earth  removed  from  thee  ; 
For  nimble  thought  can  jump  both  fea  and  land, 
As  foon  as  think  the  place  where  he  would  be. 
But,  ah,  thought  kills  me  that  I  am  not  thought, 
To  leap  large  lengths  of  miles  when  thou  art  gone, 
But  that,  fo  much  of  earth  and  water  wrought, 
I  muft  attend  time's  leifure  with  my  moan  ; 
Receiving  nought  by  elements  fo  flow 
But  heavy  tears,  badges  of  either's  woe. 


SONNETS.  45 


The  other  two,  flight  air  and  purging  fire, 
Are  both  with  thee,  wherever  I  abide  ; 
The  firft  my  thought,  the  other  my  defire, 
Thefe  prefent-abfent  with  fwift  motion  flide. 
For  when  thefe  quicker  elements  are  gone 
In  tender  embaffy  of  love  to  thee, 
My  life,  being  made  of  four,  with  two  alone 
Sinks  down  to  death,  opprefTd  with  melancholy  ; 
Until  life's  compofition  be  recured 
By  thofe  fwift  meffengers  return'd  from  thee, 
Who  even  but  now  come  back  again,  aflured 
Of  thy  fair  health,"  recounting  it  to  me  : 
This  told,  I  joy  ;  but  then  no  longer  glad, 
I  fend  them  back  again,  and  ftraight  grow  fad. 


46  SONNETS. 


XLVI. 

Mine  eye  and  heart  are  at  a  mortal  war, 
How  to  divide  the  conqueft  of  thy  fight  ; 
Mine  eye  my  heart  thy  pi&ure's  fight  would  bar, 
My  heart  mine  eye  the  freedom  of  that  right. 
My  heart  doth  plead  that  thou  in  him  doft  lie, 
A  clofet  never  pierced  with  cryftal  eyes, 
But  the  defendant  doth  that  plea  deny, 
And  fays  in  him  thy  fair  appearance  lies. 
To  'cide  this  title  is  impannelled 
A  queft  of  thoughts,  all  tenants  to  the  heart  ; 
And  by  their  verdicl:  is  determined 
The  clear  eye's  moiety  and  the  dear  heart's  part  : 
As  thus  ;  mine  eye's  due  is  thine  outward  part, 
And  my  heart's  right  thine  inward  love  of  heart. 


SONNETS.  47 


XLVII. 

Betwixt  mine  eye  and  heart  a  league  is  took, 
And  each  doth  good  turns  now  unto  the  other  : 
When  that  mine  eye  is  famifh'd  for  a  look, 
Or  heart  in  love  with  fighs  himfelf  doth  fmother, 
With  my  love's  pi&ure  then  my  eye  doth  feaft, 
And  to  the  painted  banquet  bids  my  heart  ; 
Another  time  mine  eye  is  my  heart's  gueft, 
And  in  his  thoughts  of  love  doth  fhare  a  part  : 
So,  either  by  thy  pi&ure  or  my  love, 
Thyfelf  away  art  prefent  ftill  with  me  ; 
For  thou  not  farther  than  my  thoughts  canft  move, 
And  I  am  ftill  with  them  and  they  with  thee  ; 
Or,  if  they  fleep,  thy  pi&ure  in  my  fight 
Awakes  my  heart,  to  heart's  and  eye's  delight. 


48  SONNETS. 


XLVIII. 

How  careful  was  I,  when  I  took  my  way, 
Each  trifle  under  trueft  bars  to  thruft, 
That  to  my  ufe  it  might  unufed  flay 
From  hands  of  falfehood,  in  fure  wards  of  truft 
But  thou,  to  whom  my  jewels  trifles  are, 
Moft  worthy  comfort,  now  my  greateft  grief, 
Thou,  befl  of  dearefl  and  mine  only  care, 
Art  left  the  prey  of  every  vulgar  thief. 
Thee  have  I  not  lock'd  up  in  any  chefl, 
Save  where  thou  art  not,  though  I  feel  thou  art, 
Within  the  gentle  clofure  of  my  breaft, 
From  whence  at  pleafure  thou  mayfl  come  and  part  ; 
And  even  thence  thou  wilt  be  ftoPn,  I  fear, 
For  truth  proves  thievifh  for  a  prize  fo  dear. 


SONNETS.  49 


XLIX.      ^-~" 

Againft  that  time,  if  ever  that  time  come, 
When  I  fhall  fee  thee  frown  on  my  defeds, 
When  as  thy  love  hath  caft  his  utmoft  fum, 
CalTd  to  that  audit  by  advifed  refpeds ; 
Againft  that  time  when  thou  fhalt  ftrangely  pafs, 
And  fcarcely  greet  me  with  that  fun,  thine  eye, 
When  love,  converted  from  the  thing  it  was, 
Shall  reafons  find  of  fettled  gravity ; 
Againft  that  time  do  I  enfconce  me  here 
Within  the  knowledge  of  mine  own  defert, 
And  this  my  hand  againft  myfelf  uprear, 
To  guard  the  lawful  reafons  on  thy  part : 

To  leave  poor  me  thou  haft  the  ftrength  of  laws, 
Since  why  to  love  I  can  allege  no  caufe. 


50  SONNETS, 

fr 

L. 

How  heavy  do  I  journey  on  the  way, 
"When  what  I  feek,  my  weary  travel's  end, 
Doth  teach  that  eafe  and  that  repofe  to  fay, 
_J  Thus  far  the  miles'  are  measured  from  thy  friend !' 
The  bead  that  bears  me,  tired  with  my  woe, 
Plods  dully  on,  to  bear  that  weight  in  me, 
As  if  by  fome  inflind  the  wretch  did  know 
jjis  rider  loved  not  fpeed,  being  made  from  thee : 
The  bloody  fpur  cannot  provoke  him  on 
That  fometimes  anger  thrufts  into  his  hide, 
Which  heavily  he  anfwers  with  a  groan 
More  fharp  to  me  than  fpurring  to  his  fide ; 
For  that  fame  groan  doth  put  this  in  my  mind : 
My  grief  lies  onward,  and  my  joy  behind. 


SONNETS.  51 


LI, 

Thus  can  my  love  excufe  the  flow  offence 
Of  my  dull  bearer  when  from  thee  I  fpeed  : 
From  where  thou  art  why  fhould  I  hade  me  thence  ? 
Till  I  return,  of  pofting  is  no  need. 
O,  what  excufe  will  my  poor  beaft  then  find, 
When  fwift  extremity  can  feem  but  flow  ? 
Then  fhould  I  fpur,  though  mounted  on  the  wind, 
In  winged  fpeed  no  motion  fhall  I  know : 
Then  can  no  horfe  with  my  defire  keep  pace ; 
Therefore  defire,  of  perfecYft  love  being  made, 
Shall  neigh,  no  dull  flefh  in  his  fiery  race ; 
But  love,  for  love,  thus  fhall  excufe  my  jade, — 
'  Since  from  thee  going  he  went  wilful-flow, 
Towards  thee  I  '11  run  and  give  him  leave  to  go.' 


SONNETS. 


LII. 

So  am  I  as  the  rich,  whofe  blefled  key 
Can  bring  him  to  his  fweet  up-locked  treafure, 
The  which  he  will  not  every  hour  furvey, 
For  blunting  the  fine  point  of  feldom  pleafure. 
Therefore  are  feafts  fo  folemn  and  fo  rare, 
Since,  feldom  coming,  in  the  long  year  fet, 
Like  ftones  of  worth  they  thinly  placed  are, 
Or  captain  jewels  in  the  carcanet. 
So  is  the  time  that  keeps  you  as  my  cheft, 
Or  as  the  wardrobe  which  the  robe  doth  hide, 
To  make  fome  fpecial  inftant  fpecial  bleft, 
By  new  unfolding  his  imprifon'd  pride. 

Bleffed  are  you,  whofe  worthinefs  gives  fcope, 
Being  had,  to  triumph  ;  being  lack'd,  to  hope. 


SONNETS.  S3 


LIII. 

What  is  your  fubftance,  whereof  are  you  made, 
That  millions  of  ftrange  fhadows  on  you  tend  ? 
Since  every  one  hath,  every  one,  one  {hade, 
And  you,  but  one,  can  every  lhadow  lend. 
Defcribe  Adonis,  and  the  counterfeit 
Is  poorly  imitated  after  you  ; 
On  Helen's  cheek  all  art  of  beauty  fet, 
And  you  in  Grecian  tires  are  painted  new  : 
Speak  of  the  fpring  and  foifon  of  the  year, 
The  one  doth  fhadow  of  your  beauty  (how, 
The  other  as  your  bounty  doth  appear  ; 
And  you  in  every  bleffed  fhape  we  know. 
In  all  external  grace  you  have  fome  part, 
But  you  like  none,  none  you,  for  conftant  heart. 


54  SONNETS. 


LIV. 

O,  how  much  more  doth  beauty  beauteous  feem 
By  that  fweet  ornament  which  truth  doth  give  ! 
The  rofe  looks  fair,  but  fairer  we  it  deem 
For  that  fweet  odour  which  doth  in  it  live. 
The  canker-blooms  have  full  as  deep  a  dye 
As  the  perfumed  tindure  of  the  rofes, 
Hang  on  fuch  thorns,  and  play  as  wantonly 
When  fummer's  breath  their  mafked  buds  difclofes  : 
But,  for  their  virtue  only  is  their  fhow, 
They  live  unwoo'd  and  unrefpe&ed  fade  ; 
Die  to  themfelves.     Sweet  rofes  do  not  fo  ; 
Of  their  fweet  deaths  are  fweeteft  odours  made  : 
„  And  fo  of  you,  beauteous  and  lovely  youth, 
When  that  fhall  vade,  by  verfe  diftils  your  truth. 


SONNETS.  55 


LV. 

Not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments 
Of  princes,  (hall  outlive  this  powerful  rime  ; 
But  you  fhall  fhine  more  bright  in  tliefe  contents 
Than  unfwept  ftone,  befmear'd  with  fluttifh  time. 
When  wafteful  war  fhall  ftatues  overturn, 
And  broils  root  out  the  work  of  mafonry, 
Nor  Mars  his  fword  nor  war's  quick  fire  fhall  burn 
The  living  record  of  your  memory. 
'Gainft  death  and  all-oblivious  enmity 
Shall  you  pace  forth  ;  your  praife  fhall  flill  find  room 
Even  in  the  eyes  of  all  pofterity 
That  wear  this  world  out  to  the  ending  doom. 
So,  till  the  judgement  that  yourfelf  arife, 
You  live  in  this,  and  dwell  in  lovers'  eyes. 


SONNETS. 


LVI. 

Sweet  love,  renew  thy  force ;  be  it  not  faid 
Thy  edge  fhould  blunter  be  than  appetite, 
Which  but  to-day  by  feeding  is  allay'd, 
To-morrow  fharp'ned  in  his  former  might : 
So,  love,  be  thou ;  although  to-day  thou  fill 
Thy  hungry  eyes  even  till  they  wink  with  fullnefs, 
To-morrow  fee  again,  and  do  not  kill 
The  fpirit  of  love  with  a  perpetual  dullnefs. 
Let  this  fad  interim  like  the  ocean  be 
Which  parts  the  fhore,  where  two  contracted  new 
Come  daily  to  the  banks,  that,  when  they  fee 
Return  of  love,  more  bleft  may  be  the  view  ; 
Or  call  it  winter,  which,  being  full  of  care, 
Makes  fummer's  welcome  thrice  more  wifh'd, 
more  rare. 


SONNETS.  57 

5  ? 

LVII. 

Being  your  flave,  what  fhould  I  do  but  tend 
Upon  the  hours  and  times  of  your  defire  ? 
I  have  no  precious  time  at  all  to  fpend, 
Nor  fervices  to  do,  till  you  require. 
Nor  dare  I  chide  the  world-without-end  hour 
Whilft  I,  my  fovereign,  watch  the  clock  for  you, 
Nor  think  the  bitternefs  of  abfence  four 
When  you  have  bid  your  fervant  once  adieu ; 
Nor  dare  I  queftion  with  my  jealous  thought 
Where  you  may  be,  or  your  affairs  fuppofe, 
But,  like  a  fad  flave,  (lay  and  think  of  nought 
Save,  where  you  are  how  happy  you  make  thofe. 
So  true  a  fool  is  love  that  in  your  will, 
Though  you  do  any  thing,  he  thinks  no  ilL 


5  8  SONNETS. 


LVIII. 

That  god  forbid  that  made  me  firft  your  flave, 
I  mould  in  thought  control  your  times  of  pleafure, 
Or  at  your  hand  the  account  of  hours  to  crave, 
Being  your  vaffal,  bound  to  ftay  your  leifure ! 
O,  let  me  fuffer,  being  at  your  beck, 
The  im'prifon'd  abfence  of  your  liberty ; 
And  patience,  tame  to  fufferance,  bide  each  check, 
Without  accufmg  you  of  injury. 
Be  where  you  lift,  your  charter  is  fo  ftrong 
That  you  yourfelf  may  privilege  your  time 
To  what  you  will ;  to  you  it  doth  belong 
Yourfelf  to  pardon  of  felf-doing  crime. 
I  am  to  wait,  though  waiting  fo  be  hell, 
Not  blame  your  pleafure,  be  it  ill  or  well. 


SONNETS.  59 


LIX. 

If  there  be  nothing  new,  but  that  which  is 
Hath  been  before,  how  are  our  brains  beguiled, 
Which,  labouring  for  invention,  bear  amifs 
The  fecond  burthen  of  a  former  child ! 
O,  that  record  could  with  a  backward  look, 
Even  of  five  hundred  courfes  of  the  fun, 
Show  me  your  image  in  fome  antique  book, 
Since  mind  at  firft  in  character  was  done ! 
That  I  might  fee  what  the  old  world  could  fay 
To  this  compofed  wonder  of  your  frame ; 
Whether  we  are  mended,  or  whe'r  better  they, 
Or  whether  revolution  be  the  fame. 
0,  fure  I  am,  the  wits  of  former  days 
To  fubje&s  worfe  have  given  admiring  praife. 


60  SONNETS. 


LX. 

Like  as  the  waves  make  towards  the  pebbled  fliore, 
So  do  our  minutes  haften  to  their  end  ; 
Each  changing  place  with  that  which  goes  before, 
In  fequent  toil  all  forwards  do  contend. 
Nativity,  once  in  the  main  of  light, 
Crawls  to  maturity,  wherewith  being  crown'  d, 
Crooked  eclipfes  'gainft  his  glory  fight, 
And  Time  that  gave  doth  now  his  gift  confound. 
Time  doth  tranffix  the  flourim  fet  on  youth 
And  delves  the  parallels  in  beauty's  brow, 
Feeds  on  the  rarities  of  nature's  truth, 
And  nothing  ftands  but  for  his  fcythe  to  mow  : 
And  yet  to  times  in  hope  my  verfe  fhall  ftand, 
Trailing  thy  worth,  defpite  his  cruel  hand. 


SONNETS.  6  1 


LXI. 

Is  it  thy  will  thy  image  Ihould  keep  open 

My  heavy  eyelids  to  the  weary  night? 

Doft  thou  defire  my  flumbers  fliould  be  broken, 

While  fhadows  like  to  thee  do  mock  my  fight  ? 

Is  it  thy  fpirit  that  thou  fend'ft  from  thee 

So  far  from  home  into  my  deeds  to  pry, 

To  find  out  fhames  and  idle  hours  in  me, 

The  fcope  and  tenour  of  thy  jealoufy  ? 

O,  no  !  thy  love,  though  much,  is  not  fo  great  : 

It  is  my  love  that  keeps  mine  eye  awake  ; 

Mine  own  true  love  that  doth  my  reft  defeat, 

To  play  the  watchman  ever  for  thy  fake  : 

For  thee  watch  I  whilft  thou  doft  wake  elfewhere, 
From  me  far  off,  with  others  all  too  near. 


62  SONNETS. 


LXII. 

Sin  of  felf-love  poffeffeth  all  mine  eye 
And  all  my  foul  and  all  my  every  part ; 
And  for  this  fin  there  is  no  remedy, 
It  is  fo  grounded  inward  in  my  heart. 
Methinks  no  face  fo  gracious  is  as  mine, 
No  fhape  fo  true,  no  truth  of  fuch  account ; 
And  for  myfelf  mine  own  worth  do  define, 
As  I  all  other  in  all  worths  furmount. 
But  when  my  glafs  fhows  me  myfelf  indeed, 
Beated  and  chopp'd  with  tann'd  antiquity, 
Mine  own  felf-love  quite  contrary  I  read ; 
Self  fo  felf-loving  were  iniquity. 

'Tis  thee,  myfelf,  that  for  myfelf  I  praife, 
Painting  my  age  with  beauty  of  thy  days. 


SONNETS.  63 


LXIII. 

Againft  my  love  {hall  be,  as  I  am  now, 
With  Time's  injurious  hand  crufh'd  and  o'erwortiN 
When  hours  have  drain'd  his  blood  and  filPd  his  brow 
With  lines  and  wrinkles  ;  'when  his  youthful  morn 
Hath  travell'd  on  to  age's  fleepy  night  ; 

j& 

And  all  thofe  beauties  whereof  now  he's  king 

*—  -      -^zf 

Are  vanishing  or  vanifh'd  out  of  1'ight, 
Stealing  away  the  treafure  of  his  fpring  ; 
For  fuch  a  time  do  I  now  fortify 

Againft  confounding  age's  cruel  knife, 

>£\  """'" 

That  he  {Kail  never  _cut  from  memory 

My  fweet  love's  beauty,  though  my  lover's  life  : 
His  beauty  ftiall  in  thefe  black  lines  be  feen, 
And  they  (Hall  live,  and  he  in  them  ftill  green. 


64  SONNETS. 


LXIV. 

When  I  have  feen  by  Time's  fell  hand  defaced 
The  rich-proud  coft  of  outworn  buried  age  ; 
When  fometime  lofty  towers  I  fee  down-razed, 
And  brafs  eternal  flave  to  mortal  rage  ; 
When  I  have  feen  the  hungry  ocean  gain 
Advantage  on  the  kingdom  of  the  fhore, 
And  the  firm  foil  win  of  the  watery  main, 
Increafmg  flore  with  lofs  and  lofs  with  ftore  ; 
When  I  have  feen  fuch  interchange  of  ftate, 
Or  ftate  itfelf  confounded  to  decay  ; 
Ruin  hath  taught  me  thus  to  ruminate, 
That  Time  will  come  and  take  my  love  away. 
This  thought  is  as  a  death,  which  cannot  choofe 
But  weep  to  have  that  which  it  fears  to  lofe. 


SONNETS.  65 


LXV. 

Since  brafs,  nor  ftone,  nor  earth,  nor  boundlefs  fea> 
But  fad  mortality  o'erfways  their  power, 
How  with  this  rage  fhall  beauty  hold  a  plea, 
Whofe  a&ion  is  no  ftronger  than  a  flower  ? 
O,  how  fhall  fummer's  honey  breath  hold  out 
Againft  the  wreckful  fiege  of  battering  days, 
When  rocks  impregnable  are  not  fo  ftout, 
Nor  gates  of  fteel  fo  ftrong,  but  Time  decays  ? 
O  fearful  meditation  !  where,  alack, 
Shall  Time*  beft  jewel  from  Time's  cheft  lie  hid? 
Or  what  ftrong  hand  can  hold  his  fwift  foot  back  ? 
Or  who  his  fpoil  of  beauty  can  forbid  ? 
O,  none,  unlefs  this  miracle  have  might, 
That  in  black  ink  my  love  may  ftill  fhine  bright. 


66  SONNETS. 


LXVI. 

Tired  with  all  thefe,  for  reftful  death  I  cry, 
As,  to  behold  defert  a  beggar  born, 
And  needy  nothing  trimm'd  in  jollity, 
And  pureft  faith  unhappily  forfworn, 
And  gilded  honour  fhamefully  mifplaced, 
And  maiden  virtue  rudely  ftrumpeted, 
And  right  perfection  wrongfully  difgraced, 
And  flrength  by  limping  fway  difabled, 
And  art  made  tongue-tied  by  authority, 
And  folly,  dodor-like,  controlling  fkill, 
And  fimple  truth  mifcalled  fimplicity, 
And  captive  good  attending  captain  ill  : 

Tired  with  all  thefe,  from  thefe  would  I  be  gone, 
Save  that,  to  die,  I  leave  my  love  alone. 


SONNETS.  67 


LXVII. 

Ah,  wherefore  with  infection  fhould  he  live 
And  with  his  prefence  grace  impiety, 
That  fin  by  him  advantage  fhould  achieve 
And  lace  itfelf  with  his  fociety  ? 
Why  mould  falfe  painting  imitate  his  cheek, 
And  fteal  dead  feeing  of  his  living  hue  ? 
Why  fhould  poor  beauty  indirectly  feek 
Rofes  of  fhadow,  fmce  his  rofe  is  true  ? 
Why  fhould  he  live,  now  Nature  bankrupt  is, 
Beggar'd  of  blood  to  blufh  through  lively  veins  ? 
For  fhe  hath  no  exchequer  now  but  his, 
And,  proud  of  many,  lives  upon  his  gains. 

O,  him  fhe  flores,  to  fhow  what  wealth  fhe  had 
In  days  long  fmce,  before  thefe  laft  fo  bad. 


10 


68  SONNETS. 


LXVIII. 

Thus  is  his  cheek  the  map  of  days  outworn, 
When  beauty  lived  and  died  as  flowers  do  now, 
Before  thefe  baftard  figns  of  fair  were  born, 
Or  durft  inhabit  on  a  living  brow  ; 
Before  the  golden  treffes  of  the  dead, 
The  right  of  fepulchres,  were  Ihorn  away, 
To  live  a  fecond  life  on  fecond  head ; 
Ere  beauty's  dead  fleece  made  another  gay : 
In  him  thofe  holy  antique  hours  are  feen, 
Without  all  ornament,  itfelf  and  true, 
Making  no  fummer  of  another's  green, 
Robbing  no  old  to  drefs  his  beauty  new ; 
And  him  as  for  a  map  doth  Nature  flore, 
To  fhow  falfe  Art  what  beauty  was  of  yore. 


SONNETS.  69 


LXIX. 

Thofe  parts  of  thee  that  the  world's  eye  doth  view 
Want  nothing  that  the  thought  of  hearts  can  mend ; 
All  tongues,  the  voice  of  fouls,  give  thee  that  due, 
Uttering  bare  truth,  even  fo  as  foes  commend. 
Thy  outward  thus  with  outward  praife  is  crown'd ; 
But  thofe  fame  tongues,  that  give  thee  fo  thine  own, 
In  other  accents  do  this  praife  confound 
By  feeing  farther  than  the  eye  hath  fhown. 
They  look  into  the  beauty  of  thy  mind, 
And  that,  in  guefs,  they  meafure  by  thy  deeds ; 
Then,  churls,  their  thoughts,  although  their  eyes 

were  kind, 

To  thy  fair  flower  add  the  rank  fmell  of  weeds  : 
But  why  thy  odour  matcheth  not  thy  fhow, 
The  foil  is  this,  that  thou  doft  common  grow. 


70  SONNETS. 


LXX. 

That  thou  art  blamed  fhall  not  be  thy  defeft, 
For  flander's  mark  was  ever  yet  the  fair ; 
The  ornament  of  beauty  is  fufpeft, 
A  crow  that  flies  in  heaven's  fweeteft  air. 
So  thou  be  good,  (lander  doth  but  approve 
Thy  worth  the  greater,  being  woo'd  of  time ; 
For  canker  vice  the  fweeteft  buds  doth  love, 
And  thou  prefent'ft  a  pure,  unftained  prime. 
Thou  haft  paff'd  by  the  ambufti  of  young  days, 
Either  not  affaiFd,  or  vidor  being  charged ; 
Yet  this  thy  praife  cannot  be  fo  thy  praife, 
To  tie  up  envy  evermore  enlarged : 

If  fome  fufpecl:  of  ill  mafk'd  not  thy  fhow, 
Then  thou  alone  kingdoms  of  hearts  fhouldft  owe. 


SONNETS.  71 


LXXI. 

No  longer  mourn  for  me  when  I  am  dead 
Than  you  fhall  hear  the  furly  fallen  bell 
Give  warning  to  the  world  that  I  am  fled 
From  this  vile  world,  with  vileft  worms  to  dwell  : 
Nay,  if  you  read  this  line,  remember  not 
The  hand  that  writ  it  ;  for  I  love  you  fo, 
That  I  in  your  fweet  thoughts  would  be  forgot, 
If  thinking  on  me  then  fhould  make  you  woe. 
O,  if,  I  fay,  you  look  upon  this  verfe 
When  I  perhaps  compounded  am  with  clay, 
Do  not  fo  much  as  my  poor  name  rehearfe, 
But  let  your  love  even  with  my  life  decay  ; 

Left  the  wife  world  fhould  look  into  your  moan, 
And  mock  you  with  me  after  I  am  gone. 


72  SONNETS. 


LXXII. 

O,  left  the  world  fhould  talk  you  to  recite 
What  merit  lived  in  me,  that  you  fhould  love 
After  my  death,  dear  love,  forget  me  quite, 
For  you  in  me  can  nothing  worthy  prove ; 
Unlefs  you  would  devife  fome  virtuous  lie, 
To  do  more  for  me  than  mine  own  defert, 
And  hang  more  praife  upon  deceafed  I 
Than  niggard  truth  would  willingly  impart : 
O,  left  your  true  love  may  feem  falfe  in  this, 
That  you  for  love  fpeak  well  of  me  untrue, 
My  name  be  buried  where  my  body  is, 
And  live  no  more  to  fhame  nor  me  nor  you. 
For  I  am  fhamed  by  that  which  I  bring  forth, 
And  fo  fhould  you,  to  love  things  nothing  worth. 


SONNETS.  75 

73 

LXXIII. 

That  time  of  year  thou  mayft  in  me  behold 
When  yellow  leaves,  or  none,  or  few,  do  hang/ 
Upon  thofe  boughs  which  fliake  againfl  the  cold, 
Bare  ruin'd  choirs,  where  late  the  fweet  birds  fang. 
In  me  thou  fee'ft  the  twilight  of  fuch  day 
As  after  funfet  fadeth  in  the  weft ; 
Which  by  and  by  black  night  doth  take  away, 
Death's  fecond  felf,  that  feals  up  all  in  reft. 
In  me  thou  fee'ft  the  glowing  of  fuch  fire,  > 
That  on  the  afhes  of  his  youth  doth  lie, 
As  the  death-bed  whereon  it  muft  expire, 
Confumed  with  thpt  yViiV-h  i*  *yp«?  n^HfbM  by 

This 'thou  perceiyeft,  which  makes  thy  love  more 
ftrong, 

To  love  that  well  which  thou  muft  leave  ere  long. 


74  SONNETS. 


LXXIV. 

But  be  contented ;  when  that  fell  arreft 
Without  all  bail  fhall  carry  me  away, 
My  life  hath  in  this  line  fome  intereft, 
Which  for  memorial  ftill  with  thee  fhall  ftay. 
When  thou  revieweft  this,  thou  doft  review 
The  very  part  was  confecrate  to  thee : 
The  earth  can  have  but  earth,  which  is  his  due ; 
My  fpirit  is  thine,  the  better  part  of  me : 
So  then  thou  haft  but  loft  the  dregs  of  life, 
The  prey  of  worms,  my  body  being  dead ; 
The  coward  conqueft  of  a  wretch's  knife, 
Too  bafe  of  thee  to  be  remembered. 

The  worth  of  that  is  that  which  it  contains,' 
And  that  is  this,  and  this  with  thee  remains. 


SONNETS.  75 


LXXV. 

So  are  you  to  my  thoughts  as  food  to  life, 

Or  as  fweet-feafon'd  fhowers  are  to  the  ground  ; 

And  for  the  peace  of  you  I  hold  fuch  ftrife 

As  'twixt  a  mifer  and  his  wealth  is  found  ; 

Now  proud  as  an  enjoyer,  and  anon 

Doubting  the  filching  age  will  fteal  his  treafure  ; 

Now  counting  beft  to  be  with  you  alone, 

Then  better'd  that  the  world  may  fee  my  pleafure  : 

Sometime,  all  full  with  feafting  on  your  fight, 

And  by  and  by  clean  flarved  for  a  look  ; 

PofTeffmg  or  purfuing  no  delight, 

Save  what  is  had  or  muft  from  you  be  took. 

Thus  do  I  pine  and  furfeit  day  by  day, 

Or  gluttoning  on  all,  or  all  away. 


76  SONNETS. 


LXXVI. 

Why  is  my  verfe  fo  barren  of  new  pride, 
So  far  from  variation  or  quick  change  ? 
Why  with  the  time  do  I  not  glance  afide 
To  new-found  methods  and  to  compounds  ftrange  ? 
Why  write  I  ftill  all  one,  ever  the  fame, 
And  keep  invention  in  a  noted  weed, 
That  every  word  doth  almoft  tell  my  name, 
Showing  their  birth  and  where  they  did  proceed? 
O,  know,  fweet  love,  I  always  write  of  you, 
And  you  and  love  are  ftill  my  argument  ; 
So  all  my  beft  is  dr  effing  old  words  new, 
Spending  again  what  is  already  fpent  : 
For  as  the  fun  is  daily  new  and  old, 
So  is  my  love  ftill  telling  what  is  told. 


SONNETS.  77 


LXXVH. 

Thy  glafs  will  fhow  thee  how  thy  beautie 
Thy  dial  how  thy  precious  minutes  wafte ; 
The  vacant  leaves  thy  mind's  imprint  will  bear, 
And  of  this  book  this  learning  mayft  thou  tafte. 
The  wrinkles  which  thy  glafs  will  truly  fhow 
Of  mouthed  graves  will  give  thee  memory ; 
Thou  by  thy  dial's  fhady  ftealth  mayft  know 
Time's  thievifh  progrefs  to  eternity. 
Look,  what  thy  memory  cannot  contain 
Commit  to  thefe  wafte  blanks,  and  thou  flialt  find 
Thofe  children  nurfed,  deliver'd  from  thy  brain, 
To  take  a  new  acquaintance  of  thy  mind. 
Thefe  offices,  fo  oft  as  thou  wilt  look, 
Shall  profit  thee  and  much  enrich  thy  book. 


78  SONNETS. 


LXXVIII. 

So  oft  have  I  invoked  thee  for  my  Mufe 
And  found  fuch  fair  affiftance  in  my  verfe 
As  every  alien  pen  hath  got  my  ufe 
And  under  thee  their  poefy  difperfe. 
Thine  eyes,  that  taught  the  dumb  on  high  to  flng 
And  heavy  ignorance  aloft  to  fly, 
Have  added  feathers  to  the  learned's  wing 
And  given  grace  a  double  majefty. 
Yet  be  moft  proud  of  that,  which  I  compile, 
Whofe  influence  is  thine  and  born  of  thee : 
In  others'  works  thou  doft  but  mend  the  flyle, 
And  arts  with  thy  fweet  graces  graced  be ; 
But  thou  art  all  my  art,  and  doft  advance 
As  high  as  learning  my  rude  ignorance. 


SONNETS.  79 


LXXIX. 

Whilft  I  alone  did  call  upon  thy  aid, 
My  verfe  alone  had  all  thy  gentle  grace ; 
But  now  my  gracious  numbers  are  decay 'd, 
And  my  Tick  Mufe  doth  give  another  place. 
I  grant,  fweet  love,  thy  lovely  argument 
Deferves  the  travail  of  a  worthier  pen ; 
Yet  what  of  thee  thy  poet  doth  invent 
He  robs  thee  of,  and  pays  it  thee  again. 
He  lends  thee  virtue,  and  he  ftole  that  word 
From  thy  behaviour  ;  beauty  doth  he  give, 
And  found  it  in  thy  cheek ;  he  can  afford 
No  praife  to  thee  but  what  in  thee  doth  live. 
Then  thank  him  not  for  that  which  he  doth  fay, 
Since  what  he  owes  thee  thou  thyfelf  doft  pay. 


8o  SONNETS. 


LXXX. 

O,  how  I  faint  when  I  of  you  do  write, 
Knowing  a  better  fpirit  doth  ufe  your  name, 
And  in  the  praife  thereof  fpends  all  his  might, 
To  make  me  tongue-tied,  fpeaking  of  your  fame  ! 
But  fmce  your  worth,  wide  as  the  ocean  is, 
The  humble  as  the  proudeft  fail  doth  bear, 
My  faucy  bark,  inferior  far  to  his, 
On  your  broad  main  doth  wilfully  appear. 
Your  fhalloweft  help  will  hold  me  up  afloat, 
Whilft  he  upon  your  foundlefs  deep  doth  ride  ; 
Or,  being  wreck'd,  I  am  a  worthlefs  boat, 
He  of  tall  building  and  of  goodly  pride  : 
Then  if  he  thrive  and  I  be  caft  away, 
The  worft  was  this  ;  my  love  was  my  decay. 


SONNETS.  8  1 


LXXXI. 

Or  I  (hall  live  your  epitaph  to  make, 
Or  you  furvive  when  I  in  earth  am  rotten  ; 
From  hence  your  memory  death  cannot  take,, 
Although  in  me  each  part  will  be  forgotten. 
Your  name  from  hence  immortal  life  fhall  have, 
Though  I,  once  gone,  to  all  the  world  muft  die  : 
The  earth  can  yield  me  but  a  common  grave, 
When  you  entombed  in  men's  eyes  fhall  lie. 
Your  monument  fhall  be  my  gentle  verfe, 
Which  eyes  not  yet  created  fhall  o'er-read  ; 
And  tongues  to  be  your  being  fhall  rehearfe, 
When  all  the  breathers  of  this  world  are  dead  ; 
You  ftill  fhall  live  —  fuch  virtue  hath  my  pen  — 
Where  breath  moft  breathes,  even  in  the  mouths 
of  men. 


82  SONNETS. 


LXXXII. 

I  grant  thou  wert  not  married  to  my  Mufe, 
And  therefore  mayft  without  attaint  o'erlook 
The  dedicated  words  which  writers  ufe 
Of  their  fair  fubjeft,  bleffing  every  book. 
Thou  art  as  fair  in  knowledge  as  in  hue, 
Finding  thy  worth  a  limit  paft  my  praife ; 
And  therefore  art  enforced  to  feek  anew 
Some  frefher  ftamp  of  the  time-bettering  days. 
And  do  fo,  love ;  yet  when  they  have  devifed 
What  {trained  touches  rhetoric  can  lend, 
Thou  truly  fair  wert  truly  fympathifed 
In  true  plain  words  by  thy  true-telling  friend ; 
And  their  grofs  painting  might  be  better  ufed 
Where  cheeks  need  blood ;  in  thee  it  is  abufed. 


SONNETS.  83 


LXXXIIL 

I  never  faw  that  you  did  painting  need, 
And  therefore  to  your  fair  no  painting  fet  ; 
I  found,  or  thought  I  found,  you  did  exceed 
The  barren  tender  of  a  poet's  debt  : 
And  therefore  have  I  flept  in  your  report, 
That  you  yourfelf,  being  extant,  well  might  fhow 
How  far  a  modern  quill  doth  come  too  fhort, 
Speaking  of  worth,  what  worth  in  you  doth  grow. 
This  filence  for  my  fin  you  did  impute, 
Which  fhall  be  mod  my  glory,  being  dumb  ; 
For  I  impair  not  beauty  being  mute, 
When  others  would  give  life  and  bring  a  tomb. 
There  lives  more  life  in  one  of  your  fair  eyes 
Than  both  your  poets  can  in  praife  devife. 


ii 


84  SONNETS. 


LXXXIV. 

Who  is  it  that  fays  moft  ?  which  can  fay  more 
Than  this  rich  praife,  that  you  alone  are  you  ? 
In  whofe  confine  immured  is  the  ftore 
Which  mould  example  where  your  equal  grew. 
Lean  penury  within  that  pen  doth  dwell 
That  to  his  fubjecl:  lends  not  fome  fmall  glory  ; 
But  he  that  writes  of  you,  if  he  can  tell 
That  you  are  you,  fo  dignifies  his  (lory, 
Let  him  but  copy  what  in  you  is  writ, 
Not  making  worfe  what  nature  made  fo  clear, 
And  fuch  a  counterpart  (hall  fame  his  wit, 
Making  his  ftyle  admired  every  where. 

You  to  your  beauteous  bleffings  add  a  curfe, 
Being  fond  on  praife,  which  makes  your  praifes 
worfe. 


SONNETS.  85 


LXXXV. 

My  tongue-tied  Mufe  in  manners  holds  her  ftill, 
While  comments  of  your  praife,  richly  compiled, 
Referve  their  character  with  golden  quill, 
And  precious  phrafe  by  all  the  Mufes  filed. 
I  think  good  thoughts,  whilft  other  write  good  words, 
And,  like  unlettered  clerk,  ftill  cry  '  Amen  ' 
To  every  hymn  that  able  fpirit  affords, 
In  polifh'd  form  of  well-refined  pen. 
Hearing  you  praifed,  I  fay  '  'Tis  fo,  'tis  true/ 
And  to  the  moft  of  praife  add  fomething  more  ; 
But  that  is  in  my  thought,  whofe  love  to  you, 
Though  words  come  hindmoft,  holds  his  rank  before. 
Then  others  for  the  breath  of  words  refpeft, 
Me  for  my  dumb  thoughts,  fpeaking  in  effed. 


86  SONNETS. 


LXXXVI. 

Was  it  the  proud  full  fail  of  his  great  verfe, 
Bound  for  the  prize  of  all  too  precious  you, 
That  did  my  ripe  thoughts  in  my  brain  inhearfe, 
Making  their  tomb  the  womb  wherein  they  grew? 
Was  it  his  fpirit,  by  fpirits  taught  to  write 
Above  a  mortal  pitch,  that  ftruck  me  dead  ? 
No,  neither  he,  nor  his  compeers^  by  night 
Giving  him  aid,  my  verfe  aftonilhed. 
He,  nor  that  affable  familiar  ghoft 
Which  nightly  gulls  him  with  intelligence, 
As  victors,  of  my  filence  cannot  boaft ; 
I  was  not  fick  of  any  fear  from  thence : 

But  when  your  countenance  filTd  up  his  line, 
Then  lack'd  I  matter ;  that  enfeebled  mine. 


SONNETS.  87 

n 

LXXXVH. 

Farewell  I  thou  art  too  dear  for  my  pofleffing, 
And  like  enough  thou  know'ft  thy  eftimate : 
The  charter  of  thy  worth  gives  thee  relealing ; 
My  bonds  in  thee  are  all  determinate. 
For  how  do  I  hold  thee  but  by  thy  granting  ? ' 
And  for  that  riches  where  is  my  deferving? 
The  caufe  of  this  fair  gift  in  me  is  wanting,  ; 
And  fo  my  patent  back  again  is  fwerving.   '      [ing, 
ThyCelf  thou  gaveft,  thy  own  worth  then  not  know- 
Or  me,  to  whom  thou  gaveft  it,  elfe  miftaking ; 
So  thy  great  gift,  upon  mifprifion  growing,  '. 
Comes  home  again,  on  better  judgement  making. 
Thus  have  I  had  thee,  as  a  dream  doth  flatter, 
In  deep  a  king,  but  waking  no  fuch  matter. 


88  SONNETS. 


LXXXVIII. 

When  thou  (halt  be  difpofed  to  set  me  light, 

And  place  my  merit  in  the  eye  of  fcorn, 

Upon  thy  fide  againft  myfelf  I  '11  fight, 

And  prove  thee  virtuous,  though  thou  art  forfworn. 

With  mine  own  weaknefs  being  beft  acquainted, 

Upon  thy  part  I  can  fet  down  a  ftory 

Of  faults  conceal'd,  wherein  I  am  attainted  ; 

That  thou  in  lofing  me  malt  win  much  glory : 

And  I  by  this  will  be  a  gainer  too ; 

For  bending  all  my  loving  thoughts  on  thee, 

The  injuries  that  to  myfelf  I  do, 

Doing  thee  vantage,  double-vantage  me. 
Such  is  my  love,  to  thee  I  fo  belong, 
That  for  thy  right  myfelf  will  bear  all  wrong. 


SONNETS.  89 


LXXXIX. 

Say  that  thou  didft  forfake  me  for  fome  fault, 
And  I  will  comment  upon  that  offence : 
Speak  of  my  lamenefs,  and  I  ftraight  will  halt, 
Againft  thy  reafons  making  no  defence. 
Thou  canft  not,  love,  difgrace  me  half  fo  ill, 
To  fet  a  form  upon  defired  change, 
As  I'll  myfelf  difgrace  ;  knowing  thy  will, 
I  will  acquaintance  ftr angle  and  look  ftrange ; 
Be  abfent  from  thy  walks ;  and  in  my  tongue 
Thy  fweet  beloved  name  no  more  fhall  dwell, 
Left  I,  too  much  profane,  fhould  do  it  wrong, 
And  haply  of  our  old  acquaintance  tell. 
For  thee,  againft  myfelf  I  '11  vow  debate, 
For  I  muft  ne'er  love  him  whom  thou  doft  hate. 


90  SONNETS. 


xc. 

Then  hate  me  when  thou  wilt  ;  if  ever,  now  ; 

Now,  while  the  world  is  bent  my  deeds  to  crofs, 

Join  with  the  fpite  of  fortune,  make  me  bow, 

And  do  not  drop  in  for  an  after-lofs  : 

Ah,  do  not,  when  my  heart  hath  'fcaped  this  forrow, 

Come  in  the  rearward  of  a  conquered  woe  ; 

Give  not  a  windy  night  a  rainy  morrow, 

To  linger  out  a  purpofed  overthrow. 

If  thou  wilt  leave  me,  do  not  leave  me  laft, 

When  other  petty  griefs  have  done  their  fpite, 

But  in  the  onfet  come  :  fo  fhall  I  tafte 

At  firft  the  very  worft  of  fortune's  might  ; 

And  other  ftrains  of  woe,  which  now  feem  woe. 

Compared  with  lofs  of  thee  will  not  feem  fo. 


SONNETS.  91 


xci. 

Some  glory  in  their  birth,  fome  in  their  fldfl, 
Some  in  their  wealth,  fome  in  their  body's  force  ; 
Some  in  their  garments,  though  new-fangled  ill  ; 
Some  in  their  hawks  and  hounds,  fome  in  their  horfe  ; 
And  every  humour  hath  his  adjunct  pleafure, 
Wherein  it  finds  a  joy  above  the  reft  : 
But  thefe  particulars  are  not  my  meafure  ; 
All  thefe  I  better  in  one  general  beft. 
Thy  love  is  better  than  high  birth  to  me, 
Richer  than  wealth,  prouder  than  garments'  coft, 
Of  more  delight  than  hawks  or  horfes  be  ; 
And  having  thee,  of  all  men's  pride  I  boaft  : 
Wretched  in  this  alone,  that  thou  mayft  take 
All  this  away  and  me  moil  wretched  make. 


92  SONNETS. 


XCII. 

But  do  thy  worft  to  fteal  thyfelf  away, 
For  term  of  life  thou  art  aflured  mine ; 
And  life  no  longer  than  thy  love  will  ftay, 
For  it  depends  upon  that  love  of  thine. 
Then  need  I  not  to  fear  the  worft  of  wrongs, 
When  in  the  leaft  of  them  my  life  hath  end. 
I  fee  a  better  ftate  to  me  belongs 
Than  that  which  on  thy  humour  doth  depend : 
Thou  canft  not  vex  me  with  inconftant  mind, 
Since  that  my  life  on  thy  revolt  doth  lie. 
O,  what  a  happy  title  do  I  find, 
Happy  to  have  thy  love,  happy  to  die ! 

But  What's  fo  bleffed-fair  that  fears  no  blot  ? 

Thou  mayft  be  falfe,  and  yet  I  know  it  not. 


SONNETS.  93 


XCIII. 

So  fhall  I  live,  fuppofmg  thou  art  true, 
Like  a  deceived  hufband  ;  fo  love's  face 
May  ftill  feem  love  to  me,  though  alter'd  new  ; 
Thy  looks  with  me,  thy  heart  in  other  place  : 
For  there  can  live  no  hatred  in  thine  eye, 
Therefore  in  that  I  cannot  know  thy  change. 
In  many's  looks  the  falfe  heart's  hiftory 
Is  writ  in  moods  and  frowns  and  wrinkles  ftrange, 
But  heaven  in  thy  creation  did  decree 
That  in  thy  face  fweet  love  mould  ever  dwell  ; 
Whatever  thy  thoughts  or  thy  heart's  workings  be, 
Thy  looks  mould  nothing  thence  but  fweetnefs  tell. 
How  like  Eve's  apple  doth  thy  beauty  grow, 
If  thy  fweet  virtue  anfwer  not  thy  fliow  I 


94  SONNETS. 


xcrv. 

They  that  have  power  to  hurt  and  will  do  none, 
That  do  not  do  the  thing  they  moft  do  fhow, 
Who,  moving  others,  are  themfelves  as  (tone, 
Unmoved,  cold,  and  to  temptation  flow ; 
They  rightly  do  inherit  heaven's  graces 
And  hufband  nature's  riches  from  expenfe ; 
They  are  the  lords  and  owners  of  their  faces, 
Others  but  ftewards  of  their  excellence. 
The  fummer's  flower  is  to  the  fummer  fweet, 
Though  to  itfelf  it  only  live  and  die, 
But  if  that  flower  with  bafe  infection  meet, 
The  bafeft  weed  outbraves  his  dignity : 

For  fweeteft  things  turn  soureft  by  their  deeds ; 

Lilies  that  fefter  fmell  far  worfe  than  weeds. 


SONNETS.  95 


xcv. 

How  fweet  and  lovely  doft  thou  make  the  fhame 
Which,  like  a  canker  in  the  fragrant  rofe, 
Doth  fpot  the  beauty  of  thy  budding  name ! 
O,  in  what  fweets  doft  thou  thy  fins  inclofe  1 
That  tongue  that  tells  the  ftory  of  thy  days, 
Making  lafcivious  comments  on  thy  fport, 
Cannot  difpraife  but  in  a  kind  of  praife  ; 
Naming  thy  name  bleffes  an  ill  report. 
O,  what  a  manfion  have  thofe  vices  got 
Which  for  their  habitation  chofe  out  ihee, 
Where  beauty's  veil  doth  cover  every  blot 
And  all  things  turn  to  fair  that  eyes  can  fee ! 

Take  heed,  dear  heart,  of  this  large  privilege ; 

The  hardeft  knife  ill-ufed  doth  lofe  his  edge. 


SONNETS. 


XCVI. 


Some  fay,  thy  fault  is  youth,  fome  wantonnefs  ; 
Some  fay,  thy  grace  is  youth  and  gentle  fport; 
Both  grace  and  faults  are  loved  of  more  and  lefs  : 
Thou  makeft  faults  graces  that  to  thee  refort. 
As  on  the  finger  of  a  throned  queen 
The  bafeft  jewel  will  be  well  efteem'd, 
So  are  thofe  errors  that  in  thee  are  feen 
To  truths  tranflated  and  for  true  things  deem'd. 
How  many  lambs  might  the  ftern  wolf  betray, 
If  like  a  lamb  he  could  his  looks  tranflate  ! 
How  many  gazers  mightft  thou  lead  away, 
If  thou  wouldft  ufe  the  ftrength  of  all  thy  ftate  ! 
But  do  not  fo  ;  I  love  thee  in  fuch  fort, 
As  thou  being  mine,  mine  is  thy  good  report. 


SONNETS.  97 

n 

xcvn. 

How  like  a  winter  hath  my  abfence  been 
From  thee,  the  pleafure  of  the  fleeting  year ! 
What  freezings  have  I  felt,  what  dark  days  feen ! 
What  old  December's  barenefs  every  where ! 
And  yet  this  time  removed  was  iiimmer's  time  ; 
The  teeming  autumn,  big  with  rich  increafe, 
Bearing  the  wanton  burthen  of  the  prime, 
Like  widow'd  wombs  after  their  lords'  deceafe  : 
Yet  this  abundant  iflue  feem'd  to  me 
But  hope  of  orphans  and  unfather'd  fruit ; 
For  fummer  and  his  pleafures  wait  on  thee, 
And,  thou  away,  the  very  birds  are  mute : 
Or,  if  they  fmg,  'tis  with  fo  dull  a  cheer 
That  leaves  look  pale,  dreading  the  winter  s  near. 


c>8  SONNETS. 


XCVIII. 

From  you  have  I  been  abfent  in  the  fpring, 
When  proud-pied  April,  dreff'd  in  all  his  trim, 
Hath  put  a  fpirit  of  youth  in  every  thing, 
That  heavy  Saturn  laugh'd  and  leap'd  with  him. 
Yet  nor  the  lays  of  birds,  nor  the  fweet  fmell 
Of  different  flowers  in  odour  and  in  hue, 
Could  make  me  any  fummer's  ftory  tell, 
Or  from  their  proud  lap  pluck  them  where  they  grew : 
Nor  did  I  wonder  at  the  lily's  white, 
Nor  praife  the  deep  vermilion  in  the  rofe ; 
They  were  but  fweet,  but  figures  of  delight, 
Drawnvafter  you,  you  pattern  of  all  thofe. 
Yet  feem'd  it  winter  ftill,  and,  you  away, 
As  with  your  fhadow  I  with  thefe  did  play. 


SONNETS.  99 


n. 


XCIX. 


The  forward  violet  thus  did  I  chide  :  *          [fmells,  • 
Sweet  thief,  whence  didft  thou  fteal  thy  fweet  that 
If  not  from  my  love's  breath  ?     The  purple  pride  - 
Which  on  thy  foft  cheek  for  complexion  dwells 
In  my  love's  veins  thou  haft  too  grofily  dyed. 
The  lily  I  condemned  for  thy  hand,  V, 
And  buds  of  marjoram  had  ftol'n  thy  hair ; 
The  rofes  fearfully  on  thorns  did  ftand,  c. 
One  blufhing  Ihame,  another  white  defpair ; 
A  third,  nor  red  nor  white-,  had  ftol'n  of  both, 
And  to  his  robbery  had  annex' d  thy  breath ;  ..• 
But,  for  his  theft,  in  pride  of -all  his  growth 
A  vengeful  canker  eat  him  up  to  death. 
More  flowers  I  noted,  yet  I  none  could  fee 
But  fweet  or  colour  it  had  ftol'n  from  thee. 


ioo  SONNETS. 


c. 

Where  art  thou,  Mufe,  that  thou  forget'ft  fo  long 
To  fpeak  of  that  which  gives  thee  all  thy  might  ? 
Spend'ft  thou  thy  fury  on  fome  worthlefs  fong, 
Darkening  thy  power  to  lend  bafe  fubje&s  light  ? 
Return,  forgetful  Mufe,  and  flraight  redeem 
In  gentle  numbers  time  fo  idly  fpent  ; 
Sing  to  the  ear  that  doth  thy  lays  efteem 
And  gives  thy  pen  both  fkill  and  argument. 
Rife,  refty  Mufe,  my  love's  fweet  face  furvey, 
If  Time  have  any  wrinkle  graven  there  ; 
If  any,  be  a  fatire  to  decay, 
And  make  Time's  fpoils  defpifed  every  where. 

Give  my  love  fame  fafter  than  Time  waftes  life  ; 

So  thou  prevent'fl  his  fcythe  and  crooked  knife. 


SONNETS:  ifes 


ci. 

O  truant  Mufe,  what  fhall  be  thy  amends 

For  thy  neglect  of  truth  in  beauty  dyed  ? 

Both  truth  and  beauty  on  my  love  depends  ; 

So  doft  thou  too,  and  therein  dignified. 

Make  anfwer,  Mufe  :  wilt  thou  not  haply  fay, 

4  Truth  needs  no  colour,  with  his  colour  fix'd  ; 

Beauty  no  pencil,  beauty's  truth  to  lay  ; 

But  beft  is  bed,  if  never  intermix'd  '? 

Becaufe  he  needs  no  praife,  wilt  thou  be  dumb  ? 

Excule  not  filence  fo  ;  for  't  lies  in  thee 

To  make  him  much  outlive  a  gilded  tomb 

And  to  be  praifed  of  ages  yet  to  be. 

Then  do  thy  office,  Mufe  ;  I  teach  thee  how 
To  make  him  feem  long  hence  as  he  ftiows  now. 


SONftETS. 


CII. 

My  love  is  flrengthen'd,  though  more  weak  in  feem- 
I  love  not  lefs,  though  lefs  the  fhow  appear :    [ing  ; 
That  love  is  merchandized  whofe  rich  efteeming 
The  owner's  tongue  doth  publifh  every  where. 
Our  love  was  new,  and  then  but  in  the  fpring, 
When  I  was  wont  to  greet  it  with  my  lays ; 
As  Philomel  in  fummer's  front  doth  fing, 
And  flops  her  pipe  in  growth  of  riper  days : 
Not  that  the  fummer  is  lefs  pleafant  now 
Than  when  her  mournful  hymns  did  hufh  the  night, 
But  that  wild  mufic  burthens  every  bough, 
And  fweets  grown  common  lofe  their  dear  delight. 
Therefore,  like  her,  I  fometime  hold  my  tongue, 
Becaufe  I  would  not  dull  you  with  my  fong. 


SONNETS.  103 


cm. 

Alack,  what  poverty  my  Mufe  brings  forth, 
That  having  fuch  a  fcope  to  fhow  her  pride, 
The  argument,  all  bare,  is  of  more  worth 
Than  when  it  hath  my  added  praife  belide  ! 
O,  blame  me  not,  if  I  no  more  can  write  ! 
Look  in  your  glafs,  and  there  appears  a  face 
That  over-goes  my  blunt  invention  quite, 
Dulling  my  lines  and  doing  me  difgrace. 
Were  it  not  fmful  then,  ftriving  to  mend, 
To  mar  the  fubjecl  that  before  was  well? 
For  to  no  other  pafs  my  verfes  tend 
Than  of  your  graces  and  your  gifts  to  tell  ; 

And  more,  much  more,  than  in  my  verfe  can  fit, 
Your  own  glafs  {hows  you  when  you  look  in  it. 


104  SONNETS. 

I  O^ 
civ. 

To  me,  fair  friend,  you  never  can  be  old, 
For  as  you  were  when  firft  your  eye  I  eyed, 
Such  feems  your  beauty  ftill.     Three  winters  cold 
Have  from  the  forefts  fhook  three  fummers'  pride, 
Three  beauteous  fprings  to  yellow  autumn  turn'd 
In  procefs  of  the  feafons  have  I  feen, 
Three  April  perfumes  in  three  hot  Junes  burn'd, 
Since  firft  I  faw  you  frefh,  which  yet  are  green. 
Ah,  yet  dolh  beauty,  like  a  dial-hand, 
Steal  from  his  figure,  and  no  pace  perceived ; 
So  your  fweet  hue,  which  methinks  ftill  doth  ftand, 
Hath  motion,  and  mine  eye  may  be  deceived : 
For  fear  of  which,  hear  this,  thou  age  unbred : 
Ere  you  were  born  was  beauty's  fummer  dead. 


SONNETS.  I0$ 


cv. 

Let  not  my  love  be  call'd  idolatry, 
Nor  my  beloved  as  an  idol  fliow, 
Since  all  alike  my  fongs  and  praifes  be 
To  one,  of  one,  ftill  fuch,  and  ever  fo. 
Kind  is  my  love  to-day,  to-morrow  kind, 
Still  conftant  in  a  wondrous  excellence  ; 
Therefore  my  verfe,  to  conftancy  confined, 
One  thing  expreffing,  leaves  out  difference. 
*  Fair,  kind,  and  true,'  is  all  my  argument, 
'  Fair,  kind,  and  true,'  varying  to  other  words  ; 
And  in  this  change  is  my  invention  fpent, 
Three  themes  in  one,  which  wondrous  fcope  affords. 
'  Fair,  kind,  and  true,'  have  often  lived  alone, 
Which  three  till  now  never  kept  feat  in  one. 


io6  SONNETS. 


CVI. 

When  in  the  chronicle  of  wafted  time 
I  fee  defcriptions  of  the  faireft  wights, 
And  beauty  making  beautiful  old  rime 
In  praife  of  ladies  dead  and  lovely  knights, 
Then,  in  the  blazon  of  fweet  beauty's  beft, 
Of  hand,  of  foot,  of  lip,  of  eye,  of  brow, 
I  fee  their  antique  pen  would  have  expreff'd 
Even  fuch  a  beauty  as  you  mafter  now. 
So  all  their  praifes  are  but  prophecies 
Of  this  our  time,  all  you  prefiguring  ; 
And,  for  they  look'd  but  with  divining  eyes, 
They  had  not  fkill  enough  your  worth  to  fing : 
For  we,  which  now  behold  thefe  prefent  days, 
Have  eyes  to  wonder,  but  lack  tongues  to  praife. 


SONNETS.  N^24!r         107 


CVII. 

Not  mine  own  fears,  not  the  prophetic  foul 
Of  the  wide  world  dreaming  on  things  to  come, 
Can  yet  the  leafe  of  my  true  love  control, 
Suppofed  as  forfeit  to  a  confined  doom. 
The  mortal  moon  hath  her  eclipfe  endured, 
And  the  fad  augurs  mock  their  own  prefage ; 
Incertainties  now  crown  themfelves  aflured, 
And  peace  proclaims  olives  of  endlefs  age. 
Now  with  the  drops  of  this  moft  balmy  time 
My  love  looks  frefh,  and  Death  to  me  fubfcribes, 
Since,  fpite  of  him,  I  '11  live  in  this  poor  rime, 
While  he  infults  o'er  dull  and  fpeechlefs  tribes : 
And  thou  in  this  fhalt  find  thy  monument, 
When  tyrants'  crefts  and  tombs  of  brafs  are  spent. 


io8  SONNETS. 


CVIII. 

What's  in  the  brain,  that  ink  may  character, 
Which  hath  not  figured  to  thee  my  true  fpirit  ? 
What's  new  to  fpeak,  what  new  to  regifter, 
That  may  exprefs  my  love,  or  thy  dear  merit  ? 
Nothing,  fweet  boy ;  but  yet,  like  prayers  divine, 
I  muft  each  day  fay  o'er  the  very  fame ; 
Counting  no  old  thing  old,  thou  mine,  I  thine, 
Even  as  when  firft  I  hallow'd  thy  fair  name. 
So  that  eternal  love  in  love's  frefh  cafe 
Weighs  not  the  duft  and  injury  of  age, 
Nor  gives  to  neceffary  wrinkles  place, 
But  makes  antiquity  for  aye  his  page ; 

Finding  the  firft  conceit  of  love  there  bred, 
Where  time  and  outward  form  would  fhow  it  dead. 


SONNETS.  io9 

/ '  °  1 
cix. 

O,  never  fay  that  I  was  falfe  of  heart, 
Though  abfence  feem'd  my  flame  to  qualify. 
As  eafy  might  I  from  myfelf  depart 
As  from  my  foul,  which  in  thy  breaft  doth  lie : 
That  is  my  home  of  love  :  if  I  have  ranged, 
Like  him  that  travels,  I  return  again ; 
Juft  to  the  time,  not  with  the  time  exchanged, 
So  that  myfelf  bring  water  for  my  ftain. 
Never  believe,  though  in  my  nature  reign'd 
All  frailties  that  befiege  all  kinds  of  blood, 
That  it  could  fo  prepofteroufly  be  ftain'd, 
To  leave  for  nothing  all  thy  fum  of  good ; 
For  nothing  this  wide  univerfe  I  call, 
Save  thou,  my  rofe ;  in  it  thou  art  my  all. 


no  SONNETS. 


ex. 

Alas,  'tis  true  I  have  gone  here  and  there, 
And  made  myfelf  a  motley  to  the  view, 
Gored  mine  own  thoughts,  fold  cheap  what  is  moft 
Made  old  offences  of  affedions  new  ;  [dear, 

Moft  true  it  is  that  I  have  look'd  on  truth 
Afkance  and  ftrangely  ;  but,  by  all  above, 
Thefe  blenches  gave  my  heart  another  youth, 
And  worfe  effays  proved  thee  my  beft  of  love. 
Now  all  is  done,  have  what  mail  have  no  end  : 
Mine  appetite  I  never  more  will  grind 
On  newer  proof,  to  try  an  older  friend, 
A  god  in  love,  to  whom  I  am  confined. 

Then  give  me  welcome,  next  my  heaven  the  beft, 
Even  to  thy  pure  and  moft  moft  loving  breaft. 


SONNETS.  in 


CXI. 

O,  for  my  fake  do  you  with  Fortune  chide, 
The  guilty  goddefs  of  my  harmful  deeds, 
That  did  not  better  for  my  life  provide 
Than  public  means  which  public  manners  breeds. 
Thence  comes  it  that  my  name  receives  a  brand, 
And  almoft  thence  my  nature  is  fubdued 
To  what  it  works  in,  like  the  dyer's  hand  : 
Pity  me  then  and  wifh  I  were  renew'd  ; 
Whilft,  like  a  willing  patient,  I  will  drink 
Potions  of  eifel,  'gainft  my  ftrong  infection  ; 
No  bitternefs  that  I  will  bitter  think, 
Nor  double  penance,  to  correct  correction. 
Pity  me  then,  dear  friend,  and  I  affure  ye 
Even  that  your  pity  is  enough  to  cure  me. 


ii2  SONNETS. 


CXII. 

Your  love  and  pity  doth  the  impreflion  fill 
Which  vulgar  fcandal  ftamp'd  upon  my  brow  ; 
For  what  care  I  who  calls  me  well  or  ill, 
So  you  o'er-green  my  bad,  my  good  allow  ? 
You  are  my  all  the  world,  and  I  muft  ftrive 
To  know  my  fliames  and  praifes  from  your  tongue  ; 
None  elfe  to  me,  nor  I  to  none  alive, 
That  my  fteel'd  fenfe  or  changes  right  or  wrong. 
In  fo  profound  abyfm  I  throw  all  care 
Of  others'  voices,  that  my  adder's  fenfe 
To  critic  and  to  flatterer  Hopped  are. 
Mark  how  with  my  neglecl:  I  do  difpenfe  : 
You  are  fo  ftrongly  in  my  purpofe  bred 
That  all  the  world  befides  methinks  they  're  dead. 


SONNETS.  113 


CXIII. 

Since  I  left  you  mine  eye  is  in  my  mind, 
And  that  which  governs  me  to  go  about 
Doth  part  his  function  and  is  partly  blind, 
Seems  feeing,  but  effectually  is  out ; 
For  it  no  form  delivers  to  the  heart 
Of  bird,  of  flower,  or  fhape,  which  it  doth  latch  : 
Of  his  quick  objects  hath  the  mind  no  part, 
Nor  his  own  vifion  holds  what  it  doth  catch ; 
For  if  it  fee  the  rudeft  or  gentleft  fight, 
The  moft  fweet  favour  or  deformed'ft  creature, 
The  mountain  or  the  fea,  the  day  or  night, 
The  crow  or  dove,  it  fhapes  them  to  your  feature : 
Incapable  of  more,  replete  with  you, 
My  moil  true  mind  thus  maketh  mine  untrue. 


ii4  SONNETS. 


CXIV. 

Or  whether  doth  my  mind,  being  crown'd  with  you, 
Drink  up  the  monarch's  plague,  this  flattery  ? 
Or  whether  mall  I  fay,  mine  eye  faith  true, 
And  that  your  love  taught  it  this  alchemy, 
To  make  of  monfters  and  things  indigeft 
Such  cherubins  as  your  fweet  felf  refemble, 
Creating  every  bad  a  perfect  beft, 
As  faft  as  objects  to  his  beams  affemble? 
O,  'tis  the  firft  ;   'tis  flattery  in  my  feeing, 
And  my  great  mind  moft  kingly  drinks  it  up  : 
Mine  eye  well  knows  what  with  his  guft  is  'greeing, 
And  to  his  palate  doth  prepare  the  cup  : 
If  it  be  poifon'd,  'tis  the  lefTer  fin 
That  mine  eye  loves  it  and  doth  firft  begin. 


SONNETS.  115 


cxv. 

Thofe  lines  that  I  before  have  writ  do  lie, 
Even  thofe  that  faid  I  could  not  love  you  dearer  : 
Yet  then  my  judgement  knew  no  reafon  why 
My  moft  full  flame  fhould  afterwards  burn  clearer. 
But  reckoning  Time,  whofe  million'd  accidents 
Creep  in  'twixt  vows,  and  change  decrees  of  kings, 
Tan  facred  beauty,  blunt  the  fharp'ft  intents, 
Divert  ftrong  minds  to  the  courfe  of  altering  things  ; 
Alas,  why,  fearing  of  Time's  tyranny, 
Might  I  not  then  fay  '  Now  I  love  you  beft,J 
When  I  was  certain  o'er  incertainty, 
Crowning  the  prefent,  doubting  of  the  reft  ? 
Love  is  a  babe  ;  then  might  I  not  fay  fo, 
To  give  full  growth  to  that  which  ftill  doth  grow  ? 


n6  SONNETS. 


CXVI. 

Let  me  not  to  the  marriage  of  true  minds 
Admit  impediments.     Love  is  not  love 
Which  alters  when  it  alteration  finds, 
Or  bends  with  the  remover  to  remove : 
O,  no !  it  is  an  ever-fixed  mark, 
That  looks  on  tempefts  and  is  never  fhaken ; 
It  is  the  ftar  to  every  wandering  bark,  [taken. 

Whole  worth's  unknown,  although  his  height  be 
Love  's  not  Time's  fool,  though  rofy  lips  and  cheeks 
Within  his  bending  Tickle's  compafs  come ; 
Love  alters  not  with  his  brief  hours  and  weeks, 
But  bears  it  out  even  to  the  edge  of  doom. 
If  this  be  error  and  upon  me  proved, 
I  never  writ,  nor  no  man  ever  loved. 


SONNETS.  117 

-  "  7 

cxvn. 

Accufe  me  thus :  that  I  have  fcanted  all 
Wherein  I  fhould  your  great  deferts  repay, 
Forgot  upon  your  deareft  love  to  call, 
Whereto  all  bonds  do  tie  me  day  by  day ; 
That  I  have  frequent  been  with  unknown  minds, 
And  given  to  time  your  own  dear-purchafed  right ; 
That  I  have  hoifted  fail  to  all  the  winds 
Which  mould  tranfport  me  fartheft  from  your  fight. 
Book  both  my  wilfulnefs  and  errors  down, 
And  on  juft  proof  furmife  accumulate ; 
Bring  me  within  the  level  of  your  frown, 
But  moot  not  at  me  in  your  waken'd  hate ; 
Since  my  appeal  fays  I  did  ftrive  to  prove 
The  conftancy  and  virtue  of  your  love. 


n8  SONNETS. 


CXVIII. 

Like  as,  to  make  our  appetites  more  keen, 
With  eager  compounds  we  our  palate  urge ; 
As,  to  prevent  our  maladies  unfeen, 
We  ficken  to  fhun  ficknefs  when  we  purge ; 
Even  fo,  being  full  of  your  ne'er-cloying  fweetnefs, 
To  bitter  fauces  did  I  frame  my  feeding ; 
And  fick  of  welfare  found  a  kind  of  meetnefs 
To  be  difeafed,  ere  that  there  was  true  needing. 
Thus  policy  in  love,  to  anticipate 
The  ills  that  were  not,  grew  to  faults  allured, 
And  brought  to  medicine  a  healthful  ftate, 
Which,  rank  of  goodnefs,  would  by  ill  be  cured  : 
But  thence  I  learn,  and  find  the  leffon  true, 
Drugs  poifon  him  that  fo  fell  fick  of  you. 


SONNETS.  119 


CXIX. 

What  potions  have  I  drunk  of  Siren  tears, 
Diftill'd  from  limbecks  foul  as  hell  within, 
Applying  fears  to  hopes  and  hopes  to  fears, 
Still  lofmg  when  I  faw  myfelf  to  win  ! 
What  wretched  errors  hath  my  heart  committed, 
Whilft  it  hath  thought  itfelf  fo  blefled  never ! 
How  have  mine  eyes  out  of  their  fpheres  been  fitted., 
In  the  diftraclion  of  this  madding  fever ! 
O  benefit  of  ill !   now  I  find  true 
That  better  is  by  evil  ftill  made  better ; 
And  ruin'd  love,  when  it  is  built  anew, 
Grows  fairer  than  at  firft,  more  ftrong,  far  greater. 
So  I  return  rebuked  to  my  content, 
And  gain  by  ills  thrice  more  than  I  have  fpent. 


SONNETS. 


cxx. 

That  you  were  once  unkind  befriends  me  now, 
And  for  that  forrow  which  I  then  did  feel 
Needs  muft  I  under  my  tranfgreffion  bow, 
Unlefs  my  nerves  were  brafs  or  hammer' d  fteel. 
For  if  you  were  by  my  unkindnefs  Ihaken, 
As  I  by  yours,  you  've  paff'd  a  hell  of  time  ; 
And  I,  a  tyrant,  have  no  leifure  taken 
To  weigh  how  once  I  fuffer'd  in  your  crime. 
O,  that  our  night  of  woe  might  have  remember'd 
My  deepeft  fenfe,  how  hard  true  forrow  hits, 
And  foon  to  you,  as  you  to  me,  then  tender'd 
The  humble  falve  which  wounded  bofoms  fits ! 

But  that  your  trefpafs  now  becomes  a  fee ; 

Mine.ranfoms  yours,  and  yours  muft  ranfom  me. 


SONNETS.  121 


CXXI. 

'Tis  better  to  be  vile  than  vile  efteemed, 
When  not  to  be  receives  reproach  of  being ; 
And  the  juft  pleafure  loft,  which  is  fo  deemed 
Not  by  our  feeling,  but  by  others'  feeing : 
For  why  mould  others'  falfe  adulterate  eyes 
Give  falutation  to  my  fportive  blood  ? 
Or  on  my  frailties  why  are  frailer  fpies, 
Which  in  their  wills  count  bad  what  I  think  good  ? 
No,  I  am  that  I  am,  and  they  that  level 
At  my  abufes  reckon  up  their  own : 
I  may  be  ftraight,  though  they  themfelves  be  bevel ; 
By  their  rank  thoughts  my  deeds  muft  not  be  fhown  ; 
Unlefs  this  general  evil  they  maintain, 
All  men  are  bad  and  in  their  badnefs  reign. 


122  SONNETS. 


CXXII. 

Thy  gift,  thy  tables,  are  within  my  brain 
Full  chara&er'd  with  lafting  memory, 
Which  mall  above  that  idle  rank  remain, 
Beyond  all  date,  even  to  eternity  : 
Or,  at  the  leaft,  fo  long  as  brain  and  heart 
Have  faculty  by  nature  to  fubfift  ; 
Till  each  to  razed  oblivion  yield  his  part 
Of  thee,  thy  record  never  can  be  mifTd. 
That  poor  retention  could  not  fo  much  hold, 
Nor  need  I  tallies  thy  dear  love  to  fcore  ; 
Therefore  to  give  them  from  me  was  I  bold, 
To  truft  thofe  tables  that  receive  thee  more  : 
To  keep  an  adjunft  to  remember  thee 
Were  to  import  forgetfulnefs  in  me. 


SONNETS.  123 


CXXIH. 

No,  Time,  thou  fhalt  not  boaft  that  I  do  change  : 
Thy  pyramids  built  up  with  newer  might 
To  me  are  nothing  novel,  nothing  ftrange  ; 
They  are  but  dreffings  of  a  former  fight. 
Our  dates  are  brief,  and  therefore  we  admire 
What  thou  doft  foift  upon  us  that  is  old  ; 
And  rather  make  them  born  to  our  defire 
Than  think  that  we  before  have  heard  them  told. 
Thy  regifters  and  thee  I  both  defy, 
Not  wondering  at  the  prefent  nor  the  paft, 
For  thy  records  and  what  we  fee  doth  lie, 
Made  more  or  lefs  by  thy  continual  hafte. 
This  I'  do  vow,  and  this  fhall  ever  be, 
I  will  be  true,  defpite  thy  fcythe  and  thee. 


124  SONNETS. 


cxxrv. 

If  my  dear  love  were  but  the  child  of  ftate, 
It  might  for  Fortune's  baftard  be  unfather'd, 
As  fubject  to  Time's  love  or  to  Time's  hate, 
Weeds  among  weeds,  or  flowers  with  flowers 
No,  it  was  builded  far  from  accident ;        [gather'd. 
It  fuffers  not  in  fmiling  pomp,  nor  falls 
Under  the  blow  of  thralled  difcontent, 
Whereto  th'  inviting  time  our  fafhion  calls : 
It  fears  not  policy,  that  heretic, 
Which  works  on  leafes  of  fhort  number'd  hours, 
But  all  alone  ftands  hugely  politic,  [mowers. 

That   it    nor   grows  with  heat  nor  drowns  with 
To  this  I  witnefs  call  the  fools  of  time,  * 
Which  die  for  goodnefs,  who  have  lived  for  crime. 


SONNETS.  125 


cxxv. 

Were  't  aught  to  me  I  bore  the  canopy, 
With  my  extern  the  outward  honouring, 
Or  laid  great  bafes  for  eternity, 
Which  prove  more  fhort  than  wafte  or  ruining  ? 
Have  I  not  feen  dwellers  on  form  and  favour 
Lofe  all,  and  more,  by  paying  too  much  rent, 
For  compound  fweet  foregoing  fimple  favour, 
Pitiful  thrivers,  in  their  gazing  fpent  ? 
No,  let  me  be  obfequious  in  thy  heart, 
And  take  thou  my  oblation,  poor  but  free, 
Which  is  not  mix'd  with  feconds,  knows  no  art 
But  mutual  render,  only  me  for  thee. 

Hence,  thou  fuborn'd  informer  !  a  true  foul 
When  moft  impeached  ftands  leaft  in  thy  control. 


125  SONNETS. 


CXXVI. 

O  thou,  my  lovely  boy,  who  in  thy  power 
Doft  hold  Time's  fickle  glafs,  his  fickle,  hour  ; 
Who  haft  by  waning  grown,  and  therein  fhow'ft 
Thy  lovers  withering  as  thy  fweet  felf  grow'ft  ; 
If  Nature,  fovereign  miftrefs  over  wrack, 
As  thou  goeft  onwards,  ftill  will  pluck  thee  back, 
She  keeps  thee  to  this  purpofe,  that  her  flull 
May  time  difgrace  and  wretched  minutes  kill. 
Yet  fear  her,  O  thou  minion  of  her  pleafure  ! 
She  may  detain,  but  not  ftill  keep,  her  treafure  : 
Her  audit,  though  delay'd,  anfwer'd  muft  be, 
And  her  quietus  is  to  render  thee.  - 


SONNETS.  127 


CXXVII. 

In  the  old  age  black  was  not  counted  fair, 
Or  if  it  were,  it  bore  not  beauty's  name ; 
But  now  is  black  beauty's  fucceffive  heir, 
And  beauty  flander'd  with  a  baftard  fhame : 
For  fmce  each  hand  hath  put  on  nature's  power, 
Fairing  the  foul  with  art's  falfe  borrow'd  face, 
Sweet  beauty  hath  no  name,  no  holy  bower, 
But  is  profaned,  if  not  lives  in  difgrace. 
Therefore  my  miftrefs'  eyes  are  raven  black, 
Her  eyes  fo  fuited,  and  they  mourners  feem 
At  fuch  who,  not  born  fair,  no  beauty  lack, 
Slandering  creation  with  a  falfe  efteem : 
Yet  fo  they  mourn,  becoming  of  their  woe, 
That  every  tongue  fays  beauty  fliould  look  fo. 


128  SONNETS. 


CXXVIII. 

How  oft,  when  thou,  my  mufic,  mufic  play'ft 
Upon  that  bleffed  wood  whofe  motion  founds 
With  thy  fweet  fingers,  when  thou  gently  fway'ft 
The  wiry  concord  that  mine  ear  confounds, 
Do  I  envy  thofe  jacks  that  nimble  leap 
To  kifs  the  tender  inward  of  thy  hand, 
Whilft  my  poor  lips,  which  fhould  that  harveft  reap, 
At  the  wood's  boldnefs  by  thee  blufhing  ftand ! 
To  be  fo  tickled,  they  would  change  their  ftate 
And  fituation  with  thofe  dancing  chips, 
O'er  whom  thy  fingers  walk  with  gentle  gait, 
Making  dead  wood  more  bleft  than  living  lips. 
Since  faucy  jacks  fo  happy  are  in  this, 
Give  them  thy  fingers,  me  thy  lips  to  kifs. 


SONNETS.  129 


CXXIX. 

The  expenfe  of  fpirit  m  a  wafte  of  fhame 

Is  luft  in  a&ion :  and  till  aftion,  luft 

Is  perjured,  murderous,  bloody,  full  of  blame, 

Savage,  extreme,  rude,  cruel,  not  to  truft ; 

Enjoy'd  no  fooner  but  defpifed  ftraight; 

Paft  reafon  hunted  ;  and  no  fooner  had, 

Paft  reafon  hated,  as  a  fwallow'd  bait, 

On  purpofe  laid  to  make  the  taker  mad : 

Mad  in  purfuit,  and  in  poffeffion  fo ; 

Had,  having,  and  in  queft  to  have,  extreme ; 

A  blifs  in  proof,  and  proved,  a  very  woe ; 

Before,  a  joy  propofed;  behind,  a  dream.  [well 
All  this  the  world  well  knows  ;  yet  none  knows 
To  fhun  the  heaven  that  leads  men  to  this  hell. 


1 3o  SONNETS. 


cxxx. 

My  miftrefs'  eyes  are  nothing  like  the  fun ; 

Coral  is  far  more  red  than  her  lips'  red : 

If  fnow  be  white,  why  then  her  breafts  are  dun ; 

If  hairs  be  wires,  black  wrires  grow  on  her  head. 

I  have  feen  rofes  damafk'd,  red  and  white, 

But  no  fuch  rofes  fee  I  in  her  cheeks ; 

And  in  fome  perfumes  is  there  more  delight 

Than  in  the  breath  that  from  my  miftrefs  reeks. 

I  love  to  hear  her  fpeak,  yet  well  I  know 

That  mufic  hath  a  far  more  pleafmg  found : 

I  grant  I  never  faw  a  goddefs  go, 

My  miftrefs,  when  flie  walks,  treads  on  the  ground : 
And  yet,  by  heaven,  I  think  my  love  as  rare 
As  any  fhe  belied  with  falfe  compare. 


SONNETS,  131 


CXXXI. 

Thou  art  as  tyrannous,  fo  as  thou  art, 
As  thofe  whofe  beauties  proudly  make  them  cruel  ; 
For  well  thou  know'ft  to  my  dear  doting  heart 
Thou  art  the  fairefl  and  moft  precious  jewel. 
Yet,  in  good  faith,  fome  fay  that  thee  behold, 
Thy  face  hath  not  the  power  to  make  love  groan  : 
To  fay  they  err  I  dare  not  be  fo  bold, 
Although  I  fwear  it  to  myfelf  alone. 
And  to  be  fure  that  is  not  falfe  I  fwear, 
A  thoufand  groans,  but  thinking  on  thy  face, 
One  on  another's  neck,  do  witnefs  bear 
Thy  black  is  faireft  in  my  judgement's  place. 
In  nothing  art  tho\i  black  fave  in  thy  deeds, 
And  thence  this  (lander,  as  I  think,  proceeds. 


132  SONNETS. 


CXXXII. 

Thine  eyes  I  love,  and  they,  as  pitying  me, 

Knowing  thy  heart  torments  me  with  difdain, 

Have  put  on  black  and  loving  mourners  be, 

Looking  with  pretty  ruth  upon  my  pain. 

And  truly  not  the  morning  fun  of  heaven 

Better  becomes  the  gray  cheeks  of  the  eaft, 

Nor  that  full  ftar  that  ufhers  in  the  even 

Doth  half  that  glory  to  the  fober  weft, 

As  thofe  two  mourning  eyes  become  thy  face  : 

O,  let  it  then  as  well  befeem  thy  heart 

To  mourn  for  me,  fince  mourning  doth  thee  grace, 

And  fuit  thy  pity  like  in  every  part. 

Then  will  I  fwear  beauty  herfelf  is  black, 
And  all  they  foul  that  thy  complexion  lack. 


SONNETS.  133 


cxxxm. 

Befhrew  that  heart  that  makes  my  heart  to  groan 
For  that  deep  wound  it  gives  my  friend  and  me  ! 
Is  Jt  not  enough  to  torture  me  alone, 
But  {lave  to  flavery  my  fweet'ft  friend  muft  be  ? 
Me  from  myfelf  thy  cruel  eye  hath  taken, 
And  my  next  felf  thou  harder  haft  engroffed  : 
Of  him,  myfelf,  and  thee,  I  am  forfaken  ; 
A  torment  thrice  threefold  thus  to  be  crofled. 
Prifon  my  heart  in  thy  fteel  bofom's  ward, 
But  then  my  friend's  heart  let  my  poor  heart  bail  ; 
Whoe'er  keeps  me,  let  my  heart  be  his  guard  ; 
Thou  canft  not  then  ufe  rigour  in  my  gaol  : 
And  yet  thou  wilt  ;  for  I,  being  pent  in  thee, 
Perforce  am  thine,  and  all  that  is  in  me. 


134  SONNETS. 


CXXXIV. 

So,  now  I  have  confefFd  that  he  is  thine, 
And  I  myfelf  am  mortgaged  to  thy  will, 
Myfelf  I  '11  forfeit,  fo  that  other  mine 
Thou  wilt  reftore,  to  be  my  comfort  ftill  : 
But  thou  wilt  not,  nor  he  will  not  be  free. 
For  thou  art  covetous  and  he  is  kind  ; 
He  learn'  d  but  furety-like  to  write  for  me, 
Under  that  bond  that  him  as  faft  doth  bind. 
The  ftatute  of  thy  beauty  thou  wilt  take, 
Thou  ufurer,  that  put'ft  forth  all  to  ufe, 
And  fue  a  friend  came  debtor  for  my  fake  ; 
So  him  I  lofe  through  my  unkind  abufe. 

Him  have  I  loft  ;  thou  haft  both  him  and  me  : 
He  pays  the  whole,  and  yet  am  I  not  free. 


SONNETS.  135 

or" 

cxxxv. 

Whoever  hath  her  wifh,  thou  haft  thy  Will, 
And  Will  to  boot,  and  Witt  in  overplus ; 
More  than  enough  am  I  that  vex  thee  ftill, 
To  thy  fweet  will  making  addition  thus. 
Wilt  thou,  whofe  will  is  large  and  fpacious, 
Not  once  vouchfafe  to  hide  my  will  in  thine  ? 
Shall  will  in  others  feem  right  gracious, 
And  in  my  wilLno  fair  acceptance  fhine  ? 
The  fea,  all  water,  yet  receives  rain  ftill, 
And  in  abundance  addeth  to  his  ftore ; 
So  thou,  being  rich  in  Will,  add  to  thy  Will 
One  will  of  mine,  to  make  thy  large  Will  more. 

Let  no  unkind,  no  fair  befeechers  kill ; 

Think  all  but  one,  and  me  in  that  one  Will. 


136  SONNETS. 


CXXXVI. 

If  thy  foul  check  thee  that  I  come  fo  near, 
Swear  to  thy  blind  foul  that  I  was  thy  Will, 
And  will,  thy  foul  knows,  is  admitted  there ; 
Thus  far  for  love,  my  love-fuit,  fweet,  fulfil. 
Will  will  fulfil  the  treafure  of  thy  love, 
Ay,  fill  it  full  with  wills,  and  my  wrill  one. 
In  things  of  great  receipt  with  eafe  we  prove 
Among  a  number  one  is  reckoned  none : 
Then  in  the  number  let  me  pafs  untold, 
Though  in  thy  flore's  account  I  one  muft  be ; 
For  nothing  hold  me,  fo  it  pleafe  thee  hold 
That  nothing  me,  a  fomething  fweet  to  thee : 
Make  but  my  name  thy  love,  and  love  that  flill, 
And  then  thou  lovest  me,  for  my  name  is  Will. 


SONNETS.  137 

127 

CXXXVII, 

Thou  blind  fool,  Love,  what  doft  thou  to  mine  eyes, 
That  they  behold,  and  fee  not  what  they  fee? 
They  know  what  beauty  is,  fee  where  it  lies, 
Yet  what  the  beft  is  take  the  worft  to  be. 
If  eyes,  corrupt  by  over-partial  looks, 
Be  anchor'd  in  the  bay  where  all  men  ride, 
Why  of  eyes'  falfehood  haft  thou  forged  hooks, 
Whereto  the  judgement  of  my  heart  is  tied  ? 
Why  mould  my  heart  think  that  a  feveral  plot 
Which  my  heart  knows  the  wide  world's  common 
Or  mine  eyes  feeing  this,  fay  this  is  not,        [place  ? 
To  put  fair  truth  upon  fo  foul  a  face  ? 

In  things  right  true  my  heart  and  eyes  have  erred, 
And  to  this  falfe  plague  are  they  now  tranfferred. 


1 38  SONNETS. 


CXXXVIII. 

When  my  love  fwears  that  fhe  is  made  of  truth, 
I  do  believe  her,  though  I  know  fhe  lies, 
That  fhe  might  think  me  fome  untutor'd  youth, 
Unlearned  in  the  world's  falfe  fubtleties. 
Thus  vainly  thinking  that  fhe  thinks  me  young, 
Although  fhe  knows  my  days  are  paft  the  beft, 
Simply  I  credit  her  falfe-fpeaking  tongue : 
On  both  fides  thus  is  fimple  truth  fuppreft. 
But  wherefore  fays  fhe  not  fhe  is  unjuft  ? 
And  wherefore  fay  not  I  that  I  am  old  ? 
O,  love's  beft  habit  is  in  feeming  truft, 
And  age  in  love  loves  not  to  have  years  told : 
Therefore  I  lie  with  her,  and  fhe  with  me, 
And  in  our  faults  by  lies  we  flatter'd  be. 


SONNETS.  139 


cxxxrx. 

O,  call  not  me  to  juftify  the  wrong 
That  thy  unkindnefs  lays  upon  my  heart ; 
Wound  me  not  with  thine  eye,  but  with  thy  tongue ; 
Ufe  power  with  power,  and  flay  me  not  by  art. 
Tell  me  thou  loveft  elfewhere ;  but  in  my  fight, 
Dear  heart,  forbear  to  glance  thine  eye  afide : 
What  need'ft  thou  wound  with  cunning,  when  thy 

might 

Is  more  than  my  o'erpreff'd  defence  can  bide  ? 
Let  me  excufe  thee  :  ah,  my  love  well  knows 
Her  pretty  looks  have  been  mine  enemies ; 
And  therefore  from  my  face  (he  turns  my  foes, 
That  they  elfewhere  might  dart  their  injuries : 
Yet  do  not  fo ;  but  fmce  I  am  near  flain, 
Kill  me  outright  with  looks,  and  rid  my  pain. 


i4o  SONNETS. 


CXL. 

Be  wife  as  thou  art  cruel  ;  do  not  prefs 
My  tongue-tied  patience  with  too  much  difdain  ; 
Left  forrow  lend  me  words,  and  words  exprefs 
The  manner  of  my  pity-wanting  pain, 
If  I  might  teach  thee  wit,  better  it  were, 
Though  not  to  love,  yet,  love,  to  tell  me  fo  ; 
As  tefty  fick  men,  when  their  deaths  be  near, 
No  news  but  health  from  their  phyficians  know  ; 
For,  if  I  fliould  defpair,  I  fhould  grow  mad, 
And  in  my  madnefs  might  fpeak  ill  of  thee  : 
Kow  this  ill-wref^mg  world  is  grown  fo  bad, 
Mad  flanderers  by  mad  ears  believed  be. 
That  I  may  not  be  fo,  nor  thou  belied, 
Bear  thine  eyes  ftraight,  though  thy  proud  hear; 
go  wide, 


SONNETS.  141 


CXLI. 

In  faith,  I  do  not  love  thee  with  mine  eyes, 
For  they  in  thee  a  thoufand  errors  note  ; 
But  'tis  my  heart  that  loves  what  they  defpife, 
Who,  in  defpite  of  view,  is  pleafed  to  dote  ; 
Nor  are  mine  ears  with  thy  tongue's  tune  delighted  ; 
Nor  tender  feeling,  to  bafe  touches  prone, 
Nor  tafte,  nor  fmell,  defire  to  be  invited 
To  any  fenfual  feafi  with  thee  alone  : 
But  my  five  wits  nor  my  five  fenfes  can 
Difluade  one  foolifh  heart  from  ferving  thee, 
Who  leaves  unfway'd  the  likenefs  of  a  man, 
Thy  proud  heart's  Have  and  vaffal  wretch  to  be  : 
Only  my  plague  thus  far  I  count  my  gain, 
That  ftie  that  makes  me  fin  awards  me  pain, 


142  SONNETS. 


CXLII. 

Love  is  my  fin,  and  thy  dear  virtue  hate, 
Hate  of  my  fin,  grounded  on  fmful  loving  : 
O,  but  with  mine  compare  thou  thine  own  ftate, 
And  thou  fhalt  find  it  merits  not  reproving  ; 
Or,  if  it  do,  not  from  thofe  lips  of  thine, 
That  have  profaned  their  fcarlet  ornaments 
And  feal'd  falfe  bonds  of  love  as  oft  as  mine, 
Robb'd  others'  beds'  revenues  of  their  rents. 
Be  it  lawful  I  love  thee,  as  thou  loved  thofe 
Whom  thine  eyes  woo  as  mine  importune  thee  : 
Root  pity  in  thy  heart,  that,  when  it  grows, 
Thy  pity  may  deferve  to  pitied  be. 

If  thou  doft  feek  to  have  what  thou  dolt  hide, 
By  felf-example  mayfl  thou  be  denied  ! 


SONNETS.  143 


«  cxun. 

Lo,  as  a  careful  houfewife  runs  to  catch 
One  of  her  feather'd  creatures  broke  away, 
Sets  down  her  babe,  and  makes  all  fwift  defpatch 
In  purfuit  of  the  thing  fhe  would  have  ftay  ; 
Whilft  her  neglected  child  holds  her  in  chafe, 
Cries  to  catch  her  whofe  bufy  care  is  bent 
To  follow  that  which  flies  before  her  face, 
Not  prizing  her  poor  infant's  difcontent  : 
So  runn'ft  thou  after  that  which  flies  from  thee, 
Whilft  I  thy  babe  chafe  thee  afar  behind  ; 
But  if  thou  catch  thy  hope,  turn  back  to  me, 
And  play  the  mother's  part,  kifs  me,  be  kind  : 
So  will  I  pray  that  thou  mayft  have  thy  Will, 
If  thou  turn  back  and  my  loud  crying  ftill. 


144  SONNETS. 


CXLIV. 

Two  loves  I  have  of  comfort  and  defpair, 
Which  like  two  fpirits  do  fuggeft  me  {till : 
The  better  angel  is  a  man  right  fair, 
The  worfer  fpirit  a  woman  colour'd  ill. 
To  win  me  foon  to  hell,  my  female  evil 
Tempteth  my  better  angel  from  my  fide, 
And  would  corrupt  my  faint  to  be  a  devil, 
Wooing  his  purity  with  her  foul  pride. 
And  whether  that  my  angel  be  turn'd  fiend 
Sufpect  I  may,  yet  not  directly  tell ; 
But  being  both  from  me,  both  to  each  friend, 
I  guefs  one  angel  in  another's  hell : 

Yet  this  fhall  I  ne'er  know,  but  live  in  doubt, 
Till  my  bad  angel  fire  my  good  one  out. 


SONNETS.  145 


CXLV. 

Thofe  lips  that  Love's  own  hand  did  make 
Breathed  forth  the  found  that  faid  <I  hate/ 
To  me  that  languifh'd  for  her  fake  : 
But  when  fhe  faw  my  woeful  ftate, 
Straight  in  her  heart  did  mercy  come, 
Chiding  that  tongue  that  ever  fweet 
Was  ufed  in  giving  gentle  doom  ; 
And  taught  it  thus  anew  to  greet  ; 
'I  hate'  fhe  altered  with  an  end, 
That  followed  it  as  gentle  day 
Doth  follow  night,  who,  like  a  fiend, 
From  heaven  to  hell  is  flown  away  ; 
'I  hate'  from  hate  away  fhe  threw, 
And  faved  my  life,  faying  —  *  Not  you.' 


146  SONNETS. 


CXLVI. 

Poor  foul,  the  centre  of  my  fmful  earth, 
[Preff'd  by]  thefe  rebel  powers  that  thee  array, 
Why  doft  thou  pine  within  and  fuffer  dearth, 
Painting  thy  outward  walls  fo  coftly  gay  ? 
Why  fo  large  coft,  having  fo  fhort  a  leafe, 
Doft  thou  upon  thy  fading  manfion  fpend  ? 
Shall  worms,  inheritors  of  this  excefs, 
Eat  up  thy  charge  ?     Is  this  thy  body's  end  ? 
Then,  foul,  live  thou  upon  thy  fervant's  lofs, 
And  let  that  pine  to  aggravate  thy  ftore  ; 
Buy  terms  divine  in  felling  hours  of  drofs  ; 
Within  be  fed,  without  be  rich  no  more  : 

So  flialt  thou  feed  on  Death,  that  feeds  on  men, 
And  Death  once  dead,  there's  no  more  dying  then. 


SONNETS.  147 


7 


CXLVII. 


My  love  is  as  a  fever,  longing  dill 

For  that  which  longer  nurfeth  the  difeafe ; 

Feeding  on  that  which  doth  preferve  the  ill, 

The  uncertain  fickly  appetite  to  pleafe. 

My  reafon,  the  phyfician  to  my  love, 

Angry  that  his  prefcriptions  are  not  kept, 

Hath  left  me,  and  I  defperate  now  approve 

Defire  is  death,  which  phyfic  did  except. 

Paft  cure  I  am,  now  reafon  is  paft  care, 

And  frantic-mad  with  evermore  unreft ; 

My  thoughts  and  my  difcourfe  as  madmen's  are, 

At  random  from  the  truth,  vainly  exprefTd ; 

For  I  have  fworn  thee  fair,  and  thought  thee 
Who  art  as  black  as  hell,  as  dark  as  night,  [bright, 


1 48  SONNETS. 


cxLVin. 

O  me,  what  eyes  hath  Love  put  in  my  head, 
Which  have  no  correfpondence  with  true  fight ! 
Or,  if  they  have,  where  is  my  judgement  fled, 
That  cenfures  falfely  what  they  fee  aright  ? 
If  that  be  fair  whereon  my  falfe  eyes  dote, 
What  means  the  world  to  fay  it  is  not  fo  ? 
If  it  be  not,  then  love  doth  well  denote 
Love's  eye  is  not  fo  true  as  all  men's :  no, 
How  can  it  ?     O,  how  can  Love's  eye  be  true, 
That  is  fo  vex'd  with  watching  and  with  tears  ? 
No  marvel  then,  though  I  miftake  my  view ; 
The  fun  itfelf  fees  not  till  heaven  clears. 

O  cunning  Love !  with  tears  thou  keep 'ft  me  blind, 
Left  eyes  well-feeing  thy  foul  faults  fhould  find. 


SONNETS.  149 


CXLIX. 

Canft  thou,  O  cruel !  fay  I  love  thee  not, 
When  I  againft  myfelf  with  thee  partake  ? 
Do  I  not  think  on  thee,  when  I  forgot 
Am  of  myfelf,  all  tyrant,  for  thy  fake  ? 
Who  hateth  thee  that  I  do  call  my  friend  ? 
On  whom  frown'ft  thou  that  I  do  fawn  upon  ? 
Nay,  if  thou  lour'ft  on  me,  do  I  not  fpend 
Revenge  upon  myfelf  with  prefent  moan  ? 
What  merit  do  I  in  myfelf  refpeft, 
That  is  fo  proud  thy  fervice  to  defpife, 
When  all  my  beft  doth  worfhip  thy  defect, 
Commanded  by  the  motion  of  thine  eyes  ? 

But,  love,  hate  on,  for  now  I  know  thy  mind ; 

Thofe  that  can  fee  thou  loveft,  and  I  am  blind. 


1  50  SONNETS. 


CL. 

O,  from  what  power  haft  thou  this  powerful  might 
With  infufficiency  my  heart  to  fway  ? 
To  make  me  give  the  lie  to  my  true  fight, 
And  fwear  that  brightnefs  doth  not  grace  the  day  ? 
Whence  haft  thpu  this  becoming  of  things  ill, 
That  in  the  very  refufe  of  thy  deeds 
There  is  fuch  ftrength  and  warrantife  of  (kill, 
That,  in  my  mind,  thy  worft  all  beft  exceeds  ? 
Who  taught  thee  how  to  make  me  love  thee  more, 
The  more  I  hear  and  fee  juft  caufe  of  hate  ? 
O,  though  I  love  what  others  do  abhor, 
With  others  thou  fhouldft  not  abhor  my  date  : 
If  thy  unworthinefs  raifed  love  in  me, 
More  worthy  I  to  be  beloved  of  thee. 


SONNETS.  151 

yj-7 

CLI. 

Love  is  too  young  to  know  what  confcience  is ; 
Yet  who  knows  not  confcience  is  born  of  love  ? 
Then,  gentle  cheater,  urge  not  my  amifs, 
Left  guilty  of  my  faults  thy  fweet  felf  prove  : 
For,  thou  betraying  me,  I  do  betray 
My  nobler  part  to  my  grofs  body's  treafon ; 
My  foul  doth  tell  my  body  that  he  may 
Triumph  in  love ;  flefh  ftays  no  farther  reafon, 
But  rifmg  at  thy  name  doth  point  out  thee 
As  his  triumphant  prize.     Proud  of  this  pride, 
He  is  contented  thy  poor  drudge  to  be, 
To  (land  in  thy  affairs,  fall  by  thy  fide. 
No  want  of  confcience  hold  it  that  I  call 
Her  f  love '  for  whofe  dear  love  I  rife  and  fall. 


152  SONNETS. 


CLII. 

In  loving  thee  thou  know'ft  I  am  forfworn, 
But  thou  art  twice  forfworn,  to  me  love  fwearing  ; 
In  ad  thy  bed-vow  broke,  and  new  faith  torn, 
In  vowing  new  hate  after  new  love  bearing. 
But  why  of  two  oaths'  breach  do  I  accufe  thee, 
When  I  break  twenty  ?     I  am  perjured  moft  ; 
For  all  my  vows  are  oaths  but  to  mifufe  thee, 
And  all  my  honeft  faith  in  thee  is  loft  : 
For  I  have  fworn  deep  oaths  of  thy  deep  kindnefs, 
Oaths  of  thy  love,  thy  truth,  thy  conftancy  ; 
And,  to  enlighten  thee,  gave  eyes  to  blindnefs, 
Or  made  them  fwear  againft  the  thing  they  fee  ; 
For  I  have  fworn  thee  fair  ;  more  perjured  I, 
To  fwear  againft  the  truth  fo  foul  a  lie  ! 


SONNETS.  153 


CLIII. 

Cupid  laid  by  his  brand  and  fell  afleep  : 

A  maid  of  Dian's  this  advantage  found, 

And  his  love-kindling  fire  did  quickly  deep 

In  a  cold  valley-fountain  of  that  ground  ; 

Which  borrow'd  from  this  holy  fire  of  Love 

A  datelefs  lively  heat,  ftill  to  endure, 

And  grew  a  feething  bath,  which  yet  men  prove 

Againft  ftrange  maladies  a  fovereign  cure. 

But  at  my  miftrefs'  eye  Love's  brand  new-fired, 

The  boy  for  trial  needs  would  touch  my  breaft  ; 

I,  fick  withal,  the  help  of  bath  defired, 

And  thither  hied,  a  fad  diftemper'd  gueft, 

But  found  no  cure  :  the  bath  for  my  help  lies 
Where  Cupid  got  new  fire,  my  miftrefs*  eyes. 


i54  SONNETS. 

Xi 


CLIV. 

The  little  Love-god  lying  once  afleep 
Laid  by  his  fide  his  heart-inflaming  brand, 
Whilft  many  nymphs  that  vow'd  chafte  life  to  keep 
Came  tripping  by  ;  but  in  her  maiden  hand 
The  fair  eft  votary  took  up 'that  fire 
Which  many  legions  of  true  hearts  had  warm'd ; 
And  fo  the  general  of  hot  defire 
Was  fleeping  by  a  virgin  hand  difarm'd. 
This  brand  fhe  quenched  in  a  cool  well  by, 
\Vhich  from  Love's  fire  took  heat  perpetual, 
Growing  a  bath  and  healthful  remedy 
For  men  difeafed ;  but  I,  my  miftrefs'  thrall, 
Came  there  for  cure,  and  this  by  that  I  prove, 
Love's  fire  heats  water,  water  cools  not  love. 


NOTES. 

I.  The  theme  of  this  and  other  early  fonnets  is 
fimilarly  treated  in  Venus  &  Adonis,  11.  162-174: — 

Torches  are  made  to  light,  jewels  to  wear, 
Dainties  to  tajle,  frejh  beauty  for  the  ufey 
Herbs  for  their  fmell,  and  fappy  plants  to  bear  : 
Things  growing  to  themf elves  are  growth's  abufe : 

Seeds  fpring  from  feeds  and  beauty  breedeth  beauty  ; 

Thou  wajl  begot ;  to  get  it  is  thy  duty. 

Upon  the  earth's  increafe  why  fhouldft  thou  feed f 
Unlefs  the  earth  with  thy  increafe  be  fed  ? 
By  law  of  nature  thou  art  bound  to  breedt 
That  thine  may  live  when  thou  thyfelf  art  dead : 

And  fof  in  fpite  of  death,  thou  dojl  furvive, 

In  that  thy  likenefs  Jlill  is  left  alive. 

6.  Self-fubjlantial  fuel,  fuel  of  the  fubftance  of 
the  flame  itfelf. 

12.  Makejl  wajle  in  niggarding.     Compare  Romeo 
fr  Juliet,  Ad  I.  fc.  i,  1.  223  :  — 

BEN.   Then  fhe  hath  fworn  that  fhe  will  Jlill  live  chajle  ? 
ROM.  She  hath,  and  in  that  fparing  makes  huge  wafte. 

13,  14.  Pity  the  world,  or  elfe  be  a  glutton  de- 
vouring the  world's  due,  by  means  of  the  grave 


156  NOTES. 

(which  will  fwallow  your  beauty — compare  Sonnet 
LXXVII.  6,  and  note),  and  of  yourfelf,  who  refufe  to 
beget  offfpring.  Compare  All 's  Well,  Aft  I.  fc.  I, 
Parolles  fpeaking,  '  Virginity  ...  confumes  itfelf 
to  the  very  paring,  and  fo  dies  with  feeding  his  own 
ftomach '.  Steevens  propofed  '  be  thy  grave  and  thee ', 
i.e.  be  at  once  thyfelf  and  thy  grave. 

II.  In  Sonnet  I.  the  Friend  is  '  contracted  to  his  own 
bright  eyes';  fuch  a  marriage  is  fruitlefs,  and  at 
forty  the  eyes  will  be  '  deep-funken'.  The  'glutton* 
of  i.  reappears  here  in  the  phrafe  '  all-eating  fhame' ; 
the  '  makeft  wafte '  of  I.  reappears  in  the  '  thriftlefs 
praife'  of  n.  If  the  youth  addreffed  were  now  to 
marry,  at  forty  he  might  have  a  fon  of  his  prefent 
age,  i.e.  about  twenty. 

8.   Thriftlefs  praife,  unprofitable  praife. 

I 1 .  Shall  fum  my  count  and  make  my  old  excufe  f 
fhall  complete  my  account,  and  ferve  as  the  excufe 
of  my  oldnefs.     Hazlitt  reads  whole  excufe. 

III.  A  proof  by  example  of  the  truth  fet  forth  in 
ii.     Here  is  a  parent  finding  in  a  child  the  excufe 
for  age  and  wrinkles.     But  here  that  parent  is  the 
mother.       Were  the   father   of  Shakfpere's  friend 
living,  it  would  have  been  natural  to  mention  him 
xiii.  1 4  '  you  had  a  father '  confirms  our  impreflion 
that  he  was  dead. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  mirrors— firft,  that  of 
glafs ;  fecondly,  a  child  who  reflects  his  parent's 
beauty. 

5.    Unear'd,  unploughed.     Compare  the  Dedica- 


NOTES.  157 

tion  of  Venus  &  Adonis,  '  I  fhall  .  .  .  never  after 
ear  fo  barren  a  land,  for  fear  it  yield  me  ftill  fo  bad 
a  harveft*. 

5,  6.  Compare  Meafurefor  Meafure,  Aft  I.  fc.  4, 
11.  43,44:  — 

Her  plenteous  womb 
Expreffeth  Ins  full  tilth  and  hujbandry. 

7,  8.  Compare  Venus  &  Adonis,  11.  757-761  :  — 

Wlmt  is  thy  body  hit  a  /wallowing  grave 
Seeming  to  bury  that  pofterity, 
Which  by  the  rights  of  time  thou  needs  mujl  have, 
If  thou  dejlroy  them  not  in  dark  obfcurity  ? 

9,  10.  Compare  Lucrece,  11.  1758,  1759  (old 
Lucretius  addreffing  his  dead  daughter)  :  — 

Poor  broken  glafs,  I  often  did  behold 

In  thy  fweet  femblance  my  old  age  new-born. 

11.  Compare  A  Lover 's  Complaint,  1.  14  '•    • 
Some  beauty  peeped  through  lattice  of  feared  age. 

12.  Golden  time.     So  King  Richard  in.,  A&  I. 
fc.  2, 1.  248,  'the  golden  prime  of  this  fweet  prince*. 

13.  If  thou  live ;  Capell  fuggefts  love. 

IV.  In  Sonnet  in.  Shakfpere  has  viewed  his 
friend  as  an  inheritor  of  beauty  from  his  mother ; 
this  legacy  of  beauty  is  now  regarded  as  the  bequeft 
of  nature.  The  ideas  of  unthriftinefs  (1.  i)  and 
niggardlinefs  (1.  5)  are  derived  from  Sonnets  I.  n. ; 
the  *  audit'  (1.  12)  is  another  form  of  the  'fum  my 
count'  of  H.  ii.  The  new  idea  introduced  in  this 


158  NOTES. 

fonnet  is  that  of  ufury,  which  reappears  in  vi. 
5,6. 

3.  So  Meafiire  for  Meafure,  Acl:  i.  fc.  i,  11.  $6-41. 

Spirits  are  not  finely  touched 
But  to  fine  iffues,  nor  Nature  never  lends 
'the  fmalleft  fcruple  of  her  excellence 
But,  like  a  thrifty  goddefs,  jhe  determines 
Herfelf  the  glory  of  a  creditor , 
Both  thanks  "and  ufe. 

Compare  with  this  fonnet  the  arguments  put  into 
the  mouth  of  Comus  by  Milton :  Comus,  679-684 
and  720-727. 

4.  Free,  liberal. 

8.  Live,  fubfift.    With  all  your  ufury  you  have  not 
a  livelihood,  for,  trafficking  only  with  yourfelf,  you 
put  a  cheat  upon  yourfelf,  and  win  nothing  by  fuch 
ufury. 

14.   77;'  executor,  Malone  reads  'thy  executor'. 

V.  In  Sonnets  v.  vi.  youth  and  age  are  compared 
to  the  feafons  of  the  year  :  in  vn.  they  are  compared 
to  morning  and  evening,  the  feafons  of  the  day. 

1.  Hours,  a  diffyllable,  as  in  The  Tempejl,  Ad  v. 

1.4. 

2.  Ga^e,  object  gazed  at,  as  in  Macbeth,  Aft  v. 
fc.  8,  1.  24. 

4.  Unfair,  deprive  of  beauty;  not  elfewhere 
ufed  by  Shakfpere,  but  in  Sonnet  cxxvu.  we  find 
*  Fairing  the  foul '. 

9.  Summer's    dijlillation,    perfumes    made    from 
flowers.     Compare  Sonnet  LIV.  and  A  Midfummer 
Night's  Dream,  Ad  i.  fc.  i,  11.  76,  77  :  — 


NOTES.  159 

Earthlier  happy  is  the  rofe  diflilVd, 
Than  that  which  withering  on  the  virgin  thorn 
Grows f  lives  and  dies  in  Jingle  lleffednefs. 

14.  Leefe,  lofe. 

VI.  This  fonnet  carries  on  the  thoughts  of  iv. 
and  v. — the  diftilling   of  perfumes  from  v.,  and 
the  intereft  paid  on  money  lent  from  iv. 

5.  Ufe,  intereft.  Compare  with  this  fonnet  the 
folicitation  of  Adonis  by  Venus,  11.  767,  768. 

Foul  cankering  rujl  the  hidden  treafure  frets. 
But  gold  that 's  put  to  ufe  more  gold  begets. 
And  Merchant  of  Venice,  Ad  I.  fc.  3,  11.  70-97. 

The  mediaeval  theologians  argued  againft  requiring 
intereft  on  money  on  the  ground  that  '  all  money  is 
fterile  by  nature ',  an  abfurdity  of  Ariftotle.  *  The 
Greek  word  for  intereft  (TOKOS,  from  TIKTO>,  I  beget) 
was  probably  connected  with  this  delufion.' 

Lecky  :  Hi  ft,  of  Rationalifm  in  Europe,  chap.  vi. 
note. 

13.  Self-wilVd,  Delius  conjectures,  '  felf-kilTd*. 

VII.  After   imagery    drawn   from   fummer    and 
winter,  Shaklpere  finds  new  imagery  in  morning 
and  evening. 

3.  Each  under  eye.  Compare  The  Winter's  Tale, 
Act  iv.  fc.  2,  1.  40 : — *  I  have  eyes  under  my 
fervice*. 

5.  Steep-up  heavenly.  Mr.  W.  J.  Craig  fuggefts 
that  Shakfpere  may  have  written  'fteep  up-heavenly'. 

7,  8.  Compare  Romeo  &  Juliet,  Act  I.  fc.  1, 11. 
125,  126:  — 


160  NOTES. 

Madam,  an  hour  before  the  worfhipp'd  fun 
Peered  forth  the  golden  window  of  the  eajl. 

10.  He  reeleth  from  the  day;  Compare  Romeo 
6-  Juliet,  Aft  ii.  fc.  3,1.  3  :— 

Flecked  darknefs  like  a  drunkard  reels 
From  forth  day's  path. 

n,  12.  Compare  Timon  of  Athens,  Aft  i.  fc.  2, 
1.  150:-— 

Men  fhut  their  doors  again/I  a  fetting  fun. 
13.   Thyfelf,  etc.,  paffing  beyond  your  zenith. 

VIII.  In-  the    Additional    MS.    15,226,    Britifh 
Mufeum,  is  a  copy,  written  in  James  i.'s  reign,  of 
this  Sonnet. 

i.  Thou,  whom  to  hear  is  mufic,  why,  etc. 
Compare  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Ad  v.  fc.  i ,  1.  69, 
*  I  am  never  merry  when  I  hear  fweet  mufic '. 

8.  Bear.     Staunton  propofes  fhare. 

13,  14.  Perhaps  an  allufion  to  the  proverbial  ex- 
preffion  that  one  is  no  number.  Compare  Sonnet 
CXXXVL,  *  Among  a  number  one  is  reckoned  none '. 
Since  many  make  but  one,  one  will  prove  alfo  lefs 
than  itfelf,  that  is,  will  prove  none. 

IX.  The  thought  of   married  happinefs  in  vm. 
— hufband,  child,  and  mother  united  in  joy — fug- 
gefts  its  oppofite,  the  grief  of  a  weeping  widow. 
1  Thou  fmgle  wilt  prove  none  '  of  VIIL  1 4,  is  carried 
on  in  '  confum'ft  thyfelf  in  fmgle  life '  of  IX.  2. 

4.  Makelefs,  companionlefs. 
12.   Ufer.     Sewell  has  ufrer. 


NOTES.  161 

X.  The  *  murderous  fliame  '  of  ix.  1 4  reappears 
in  the  '  For  fhame ' !  and  *  murderous  hate '  of  x. 
In  ix.  Shakfpere  denies  that  his  friend  loves  any 
one ;  he  carries  on  the  thought  in  the  opening  of 
x.,  and  this  leads  up  to  his  fri-end's  love  of  Shak- 
fpere, which  is  firft  mentioned  in  this  fonnet. 

7,  8.  Seeking  to  bring  to  ruin  that  houfe  (i.e. 
family),  which  it  ought  to  be  your  chief  care  to 
repair.  Thefe  lines  confirm  the  conjecture  that 
the  father  of  Shakfpere's  friend  was  dead.  See 
Sonnet  xin.  9-14.  Compare  3  King  Henry  VL, 
Adv.  fc.  i,  11.  83,  84:  — 

/  will  not  ruinate  my  father's  houfe, 

Who  gave  bis  blood  to  lime  the  Jlones  together 

and  The 'Two   Gentlemen  of  Verona,   Aft  v.  fc.  4, 
11.  9-1 1. 

9.  O  change,  etc.  O  be  willing  to  marry  and 
beget  children  that  I  may  ceafe  to  think  you  a  being 
devoid  of  love. 

XL  The  firft  five  lines  enlarge  on  the  thought 
(x.  14)  of  beauty  living  (in  thine';  fhowing  how 
the  beauty  of  a  child  may  be  called  'thine. 

2.  Departefl,  leaveft.  'Ere  I  depart  his  houfe', 
King  Lear,  Aft  in.  fc.  5,  1.  I. 

4.  Convertejl,  doft  alter,  or  turn  away.  Compare 
Sonnot  xiv.  1 2  : — 

If  from  thyfelf  to  Jlore  thou  wouldjl  convert. 
7.   The  times,  the  generations  of  men. 


1 62  NOTES. 

9.  Store,  *  i.e.  to  be  preferved  for  ufe',  Malone; 
'increafe  of  men,  fertility,  population',  Schmidt. 
Compare  Othello,  Ad  iv.  fc.  3,  11.  84-86:— 

DES.  /  do  not  think  there  is  any  fuch  woman. 
EMIL.   Yes,  a  do^en ;  and  as  many  to  the  vantage 
as  would  (lore  the  world  they  played  for. 

1 1 .  To  whom  fhe  gave  mudi,  ftie  gave  more. 
Sewell,  Malone,  Staunton,  Delius,  read  '  gave  thee 
more '. 

1 4.  Nor  let  that  copy  die.  Here  *  copy '  means 
the  original  from  which  the  impreffion  is  taken.  In 
Twelfth  "Nighty  Aft  i.  fc.  5,  1.  261,  it  means  the 
tranfcript  impreffion  taken  from  an  original : — 

Lady,  you  are  the  cruell'ft  Jhe  alive, 

If  you  will  lead  thefe  graces  to  the  grave 

And  leave  the  world,  no  copy. 

XII.  This  fonnet  feems  to  be  a  gathering  into 
one  of  v.,  vi.,  vn.  Lines  I,  2,  like  vn.,  fpeak  of 
the  decay  and  lofs  of  the  brightnefs  and  beauty  of 
the  day ;  lines  3-8,  like  v.,  vi.,  of  the  lofs  of  the 
fweets  and  beauties  of  the  year. 

3.  Violet  pajl  prime.      Compare  Hamlet ,  Acl:  I. 
fc.  3, 1.  7.     'A  violet  in  the  youth  of  primy  nature '. 

4.  Sable  curls  all  filver'd.     The  Quarto,  1609, 
reads  '  or  filver'd  '.     An  anonymous  critic  fuggefts 
*  o'er-filvered  with  white  '.     Compare  Hamlet,  Ad  I. 
fc.  2,  1.  242   (Horatio,  of  the  ghoft's  beard),  *A 
fable  filver'd '. 

8.  Compare  A  Midfummer  Night's  Dream,  Act  n. 
fc.  i,  1.  95  :  — 


NOTES.  163 

The  green  corn 

Hath  rotted  ere  Ins  youth  attained  a  beard. 
9.   Quejlion  make,  confider. 

XIII.  Shakfpere  imagines  his  friend  in  Xii.   14, 
borne  away  by  Time.      It  is  only  while  he  lives 
here  that  he  is  his  own,  xm.  1,2.     Note  'you*  and 
'your*   inftead  of  'thy',  'thine',   and  the  addrefs 
'my  love'  for  the  firft  time. 

5.  So  Daniel :  Delia,  XLVH.  : — 

in  beauty's  leafe  expired  appears 
The  date  of  age,  the  calends  of  our  death. 

6.  '  Determination  in  legal  language  means  end '. 
Malone. 

9-13.  The  fame  thought  of  thriftlefs  wafte  which 
appears  in  Sonnets  i.,  rv. 

14.  You  had  a  father.  Compare  All's  Well  that 
ends  Well,  Ad  I.  fc,  I,  11.  19,  20.  'This  young 
gentlewoman  had  a  father, — O,  that  "had"!  how 
fad  a  paflage  'tis  P  The  father  of  Shakfpere's  friend 
was  probably  dead, 

XIV.  In  xm.  Shakfpere  predi&s  ftormy  winter 
and  the  cold  of  death ;  he  now  explains  what  his 
aftrology  is,  and  at  the  clofe  of  the  fonnet  repeats 
his  melancholy  prediction, 

i,  2.  So  Sidney,  Arcadia,  Book  m.     *O  fweet 
Philoclea  .  .  .  thy  heavenly  face  is  my  aftronomy', 
Ajlrophel  and  Stella  (ed.  1591),  Sonnet  xxvi. : — 
Though  dujly  wits  dare  f corn  ajlrology 

[I]  oft  forejudge  my  after-following  race 
By  only  thofe  two  Jlars  in  Stella 's  face. 
16 


1 64  NOTES. 

So  Daniel :  Delia,  Sonnet  xxx.  (on  Delia's  eyes) : — 

Stars  are  they  fure,  whofe  motions  rule  defires  ; 
And  calm  and  tempejl  follow  their  af peels. 

6.  Pointing.  '  Write  'Pointing,  i.e.  appointing  ; 
or  at  leaft  fo  underftand  the  word.  Tarquin  & 
Lucrece,  ftanza  cxxvi. : — 

"  Whoever  plots  the  fin,  thou  [Opportunity]  poinfjl 
thefeafon"'.  W.  S.  WALKER. 

8.  Oft  predicl,  frequent  prognostication.     Sewell 
(ed.  2)  reads  'By  ought  predict'. 

10-14.  I  introduce  the  inverted  commas  before 
truth  after  convert,  before  Thy  and  after  date. 

10.  Readfuch  art,  gather  by  reading  fuch  truths 
of  fcience  as  the  following. 

12.  Store,  fee  note  on  XL  9. 

Convert,  rhyming  here  with  '  art ' ;  fo  in  Daniel, 
Delia,  Sonnet  xi.  'convert'  rhymes  with  *  heart'. 

9,  10.  Compare   Love's  Labour's   Lojl,  Act  IV. 
fc.  3,11.  350-353:— 

From  women's  eyes  this  doctrine  I  derive  : 
They  fparkle  Jlill  the  right  Promethean  fire  ; 
They  are  the  books,  the  arts,  the  academes. 
That  fhow,  contain,  and  nourifh  all  the  world. 

XV.  Introduces  Verfe  as  an  antagonift  of  Time. 
The  ftars  in  xiv.  determining  weather,  plagues, 
dearths,  and  fortune  of  princes  reappear  in  xv.  4, 
commenting  in  fecret  influence  on  the  fhows  of  this 
world. 


NOTES.  165 

3.  Stage,  Malone  reads  ftate.  But  the  word 
prefent  like  flow  is  theatrical,  and  confirms  the 
text  of  the  Quarto*  Compare  Antony  fr  Cleopatra, 
A&  m.  fc»  13,  1L  29-31  : — 

Yes,  like  enough,  high-battled  Cafar  will 
Vnjlate  his  happinefs,  and  be  ftaged  to  the  (how, 
Again/I  a  fw order. 

9.   Conceit,  conception,  imagination. 

1 1 .  Debateth  with  Decay,  holds  a  difcuflion  with 
Decay ;  or  combats  along  with  Decay.  Debate  is 
ufed  frequently  by  Shakfpere  in  each  of  thefe  fenfes. 

XVI.  The  gardening  image  'engraft'  in  xv.  14 
fuggefts  the  thought  of  '  maiden  gardens ',  and 
'  living  flowers  *  of  this  fonnet. 

7.  Bear  your  living  flowers;  'bear  you'  Lintott, 
Gildon,  Malone,  and  others ;  but '  your  living  flowers ' 
Hands  over  againft  '  your  painted  counterfeit '. 

8.  Counterfeit,  portrait. 

9.  Lines  of  life,  i.e.  children.     The  unufual  ex- 
preffion  is  felected  becaufe  it  fuits  the  imagery  of 
the  fonnet,  lines  applying  to  (i)  Lineage,  (2)  de- 
lineation with  a  pencil,  a  portrait,  (3)  lines  of  verfe 
as  in  xviii.  12.     Lines  of  life  are  living  lines,  living 
poems  and  pictures,  children. 

10.  This,  Time's  pencil.     The  Quarto  reads  '  this 
(Times  penfel  or  my  pupill  pen) '.     G.  Maffey  con- 
jedures  'this  time's  pencil',  adding: — 'This  pencil 
of  the  time  may  have  been  Mirevelt's ;  he  painted 
the  Earl  [of  Southampton's]  portrait  in  early  man- 
hood '.     Shakfpere's  Sonnets  and  his  Private  Friends, 


1 66  NOTES. 

pp.  115,  116  (note).  Are  we  to  underftand 
the  line  as  meaning  'Which  this  pencil  of  Time 
or  this  my  pupil  pen';  and  is  Time  here  con- 
ceived as  a  limner  who  has  painted  the  youth  fo  fair, 
but  whofe  work  cannot  laft  for  future  generations  ? 
In  xix.  'Devouring  Time*  is  tranfformed  into  a 
fcribe  ;  may  not  '  tyrant  Time '  be  tranfformed  here 
into  a  painter  ?  In  xx.  it  is  Nature  who  paints  the 
face  of  the  beautiful  youth.  This  mafterpiece  of 
twenty  years  can  endure  neither  as  painted  by 
Time's  pencil,  nor  as  reprefented  by  Shakfpere's 
unfldlful,  pupil  pen.  Is  the  '  painted  counterfeit '  of 
1.  8  Shakfpere's  portrayal  in  his  verfe?  Cf.  Lin., 

l.S. 

11.  Fair,  beauty. 

XVII.  In  xvi.  Shakfpere  has  faid  that  his  '  pupil 
pen'  cannot  make  his  friend  live  to  future  ages. 
He  now  carries  on  this  thought ;  his  verfe,  although 
not  fliowing  half  his  friend's  excellencies,  will  not  be 
believed  in  times  to  come. 

12.  Keats  prefixed   this   line   as    motto   to   his 
Endymion ;    '  ftretched   metre '   means    overftrained 
poetry. 

13.  14.  If  a  child  were  alive  his  beauty  would 
verify  the  defcriptions  in  Shakfpere's  verfe,  and  fo 
the  friend  would  poffefs  a  twofold  life,  in  his  child 
and  in  his  poet's  rhyme. 

XVIII.  Shakfpere  takes  heart,  expects  immortality 
for  his  vedJe,  and  fo  immortality  for  his  friend  as 
furviving  in  it. 


NOTES.  167 

3.  May,  a  futnmer  month;  May  in  Shakfpere's 
time  ran  on  to  within  a  few  days  of  our  mid  June. 
Compare  Cymbeline,  Act  I.  fc.  3,  1.  36  : — 

And  like  the  tyrannous  breathing  of  the  north 
Shakes  all  our  buds  from  growing. 

5.  Eye  of  heaven,  fo  King  Richard  n.,  Ad  in. 
fc.  2,  1.  37,  'the  fearching  eye  of  heaven'. 

10.  That  fair  thou  owejl,  that  beauty  thou 
poffeffeft. 

n,  12.  This  anticipation  of  immortality  for  their 
verfe  was  a  commonplace  with  the  Sonnet-writers 
of  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  See  Spenfer:  Amoretti, 
Sonnets  27,  69,  75  ;  Drayton :  Idea,  Sonnets  6,  44 ; 
Daniel:  Delia,  Sonnet  39. 

XIX.  Shakfpere,  confident  of  the  immortality  of 
his  friend  in  verfe,  defies  Time. 

I .  Devouring.     S.  Walker  conjectures  dejlroying. 

5.  Fleets.  The  Quarto  has  fleet' 'Jl ;  I  follow  Dyce, 
believing  that  Shakfpere  cared  more  for  his  rhyme 
than  his  grammar.  Compare  confounds,  Sonnet  vm. 
1.7. 

XX.  His  friend  is  '  beauty's  pattern ',  xix.   1 2  ; 
as  fuch  he  owns  the  attributes  of  male  and  female 
beauty. 

1.  A  woman's  face,  but  not,  as  women's  faces 
are,  painted  by  art. 

2.  Majler-mijlrefs  of  my  paflion,  who  fways  my 
love  with  united  charms  of  man  and  woman.     Mr. 
H.  C.  Hart  fuggefts  to  me  that  paffion  ma/ be  ufed 
in  the  old  senfe  of  love-poem,  frequent  in  Watfon. 


1 68  NOTES. 

5.  Lefs  falfe  in  rolling.  Compare  Spenfer, 
Faerie  Queene,  B.  m.  c.  i.  s.  41  :  — 

Her  wanton  eyes  (ill  fignes  of  womanhed) 
Did  roll  too  lightly. 

8.  In  the  Quarto,  *  A  man  in  hew  all  Hews  in 
his  controwling '.  The  italics  and  capital  letter 
fuggefted  to  Tyrwhitt  that  more  is  meant  here  than 
meets  the  eye,  that  the  Sonnets  may  have  been 
addreffed  to  fome  one  named  Hews  or  Hughes,  and 
that  Mr.  W.  H.  may  be  Mr.  William  Hughes.  But 
the  following  words  have  alfo  capital  letters  and 
are  in  italics  : — Rofe  I.  2  ;  Audit  iv.  12  ;  Statues  LV. 
5  ;  Intrim  LVI.  9 ;  Alien  LXXVIII.  3  ;  Satire  c.  1 1  ; 
Autumn e  civ.  5  ;  Abifme  cxn.  9  ;  Alcumie  cxiv.  4  ; 
Syren  cxix.  I  ;  Heriticke  cxxiv.  9 ;  Informer  cxxv. 
13  ;  Audite  cxxvi.  n  ;  Quietus  cxxvi.  12.  The 
word  Mme'  was  ufed  by  Elizabethan  writers  not 
only  in  the  fenfe  of  complexion,  but  alfo  in  that  of 
fhape,  form.  In  Faerie  Queene,  B.  v.  c.  ix.  s.  1 7, 
1 8,  Talus  tries  to  feize  Malengin,  who  tranfforms 
himfelf  into  a  fox,  a  bum,  a  bird,  a  ftone,  and  then  a 
hedgehog: — 

Then  gan  it  [the  hedgehog]  run  away  incontinent 

Being  returned  to  his  former  hew. 

The  meaning  of  lines  7,  8  in  this  Sonnet  then 
may  be  'A  man  in  form  and  appearance,  having 
the  maftery  over  all  forms  in  that  of  his,  which 
fteals,  etc.'  With  the  phrafe  'controlling  hues' 
compare  Sonnet  cvi.  8  : — 

Even  fuch  a  beauty  as  you  mafter  now. 


NOTES.  169 

1 1.  Defeated,  defraudec},  difappointed  ;  fo  A  Mid- 
fummer  Night1  $  Dream,  Aft  iv.  fc.  i ,  1L  1 5  3  - 1  5  5  :  - 

They  would  have  Jlolen  away ;  they  would,  Demetrius, 
Thereby  to  have  defeated  you  and  me, 
You  of  your  wife  and  me  of  my  confent. 

XXL  The  firft  line  of  xx.  fuggefts  this  fonnet. 
The  face  of  Shakfpere' s  friend  is  painted  by  Nature 
alone,  and  fo  too  there  is  no  falfe  painting,  no 
poetical  hyperbole  in  the  defcription.  As  containing 
examples  of  fuch  extravagant  comparifons,  amorous 
fancies,  far-fetched  conceits  of  Sonnet- writers  as 
Shakfpere  here  fpeaks  of,  Mr.  Main  (Treafury  of 
Englijh  Sonnets,  p.  283)  cites  Spenfer's  Amoretti,  9 
and  64 ;  Daniel's  Delia,  1 9  ;  Barnes's  Parthenophil 
andParthenophe,  Sonnet  XLVIII.;  compare  alfo  Griffin's 
Fideffa,  Sonnet  xxxix. ;  and  Conftable's  Diana 
(1594),  the  sixth  Decade,  Sonnet  i. 

5.  Making  a  couplement  of  proud  compare,  joining 
in  proud  comparifons. 

8.  Rondure,  circle,  as  in  King  John,  Aft  n.  fc.  I, 
1.  259,  'the  roundure  of  your  old-faced  walls'. 
Staunton  propofes  *  vault '  in  place  of  '  air  '  in  this 
line/ 

12.  Gold  candles,  compare  'Thefe  blefled  candles 
of  the  night '.      The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Ad  v. 
1.  220;  alfo  Romeo  and  Juliet,  A£t  in.  fc.  5,  1.  9 ; 
Macbeth,  Act  H.  fc.  I,  1.  5. 

1 3 .  That  like  ofhearfay  well.    '  To  like  of  mean- 
ing *  to  like '  is  frequent  in  Shakfpere.     Schmidt's 
explanation  is  '  that  fall  in  love  with  what  has  been 


170  NOTES. 

praifed  by  others  * ;  but  does  it  not  rather  mean, 
'  that  like  to  be  buzzed  about  by  talk '? 

1 4.  Compare  Love's  Labour's  Loft,  Ad  IV.  fc.  3 , 
11.  259,  240:  — 

Fie,  painted,  rhetoric  I  O,  Jhe  needs  it  not : 
To  things  of  f ale  a  feller's  praife  belongs. 

XXII.  The  praife  of  his  friend's  beauty  fuggefts 
by  contraft  Shakfpere's  own  face  marred  by  time. 
He  comforts  himfelf  by  claiming  his  friend's  beauty 
as  his  own.      Lines   11-14  give  the  firft  hint  of 
poflible   wrong   committed   by   the   youth   againft 
friendship. 

4.  Expiate,  bring  to  an  end.    So  King  Richard  m., 
Ad  m.  fc.  3,  1.  23  :  — 

Make  hajle :  the  hour  of  death  is  expiate 

(changed  in  the  fecond  Folio  to  '  now  expired  *). 
In  Chapman's  Byron's  Confpiracie,  an  old  courtier 
fays  he  is  — 

A  poor  and  expiate  humour  of  the  court. 

Steevens  conjectures  in  this  fonnet  expiratey  which 
R.  Grant  White  introduces  into  the  text. 

10.  As  I,  etc.,  as  I  will  be  wary  of  myfelf  for 
thy  fake,  not  my  own. 

XXIII.  The  fmcerity  and  filent  love  of  his  verfes  ; 
returning  to  the  thought  of  xxi. 

i>  2.  So  Coriolanusy  Ad  v.  fc.  3, 11.  40-42  :— 

Like  a  dull  aclor  now, 
I  have  forgot  my  part,  and  I  am  outt 
Even  to  a  full  dif grace. 


NOTES.  171 

5.  For  fear  of  truft,  fearing  to  truft  myfelf. 
Schmidt  explains  '  doubting  of  being  trufted  *,  but 
the  comparifon  is  to  an  imp  erf e&  ador,  who  dare 
not  truft  himfelf.  Obferve  the  conftru&ion  of  the 
firft  eight  lines ;  5,  6,  refer  to  I,  2  ;  7,  8,  to  3,  4. 

9.  Books.  Sewell  has  *O,  let  my  looks'.  But 
the  Quarto  text  is  right ;  fo  1.  13. 

O  learn  to  read  what  filent  love  hath  writ. 

The  books  of  which  Shakfpere  fpeaks  are  pro- 
bably the  manufcript  books  in  which  he  writes  his 
fonnets.  In  fupport  of  looks  H.  Ifaac  cites  Spenfer  : 
Amoretti,  43. 

12.  More  than,  etc.,  more  than  that  tongue  (the 
tongue  of  another)  which  hath  more  fully  exprefled 
more  ardours  of  love,  or  more  of  your  perfections. 

XXIV.  Suggefted  by  the  thought,  xxn.  6,  of 
Shakfpere's  heart  being  lodged  in  his  friend's  breaft, 
and  by  the  conceit  of  xxm.  1 4 ;  there  eyes  are  able 
to  hear  through  love's  fine  wit ;  here  eyes  do  other 
fmgular  things,  play  the  painter. 

1 .  StelVd,  fixed :  Jleeld,  Quarto.     Compare  Lu- 
crece,  1 444  :  — 

To  find  a  face  where  all  diftrefs  is  ftelPd. 

2.  Table,  that  on  which  a  pi&ure  is   painted. 
Compare  All's  Well  that  Ends  Well,  Ad  I.  fc.   I, 
11.  104-106  :  — 

To  fit  and  draw 

His  arched  brows,  his  hawking  eye,  his  curls, 
In  our  heart's  table. 


172  NOTES. 

4.  Perfpetiive.  Perfpeftive  meant  a  cunning 
picture,  which  feen  directly  feemed  in  confufion 
and  feen  obliquely  became  an  intelligible  compofi- 
tion ;  alfo  "  a  glafs  fo  cut  as  to  produce  optical 
illufion.  See  King  Richard  n.,  Aft  n.  fc.  2,  1.  18. 
But  here  does  it  not  limply  mean  that  a  painter's 
higheft  art  is  to  produce  the  illufion  of  diftance,  one 
thing  feeming  to  lie  behind  another ;  you  muft  look 
through  the  painter  (my  eye  or  myfelf)  to  fee  your 
picture,  the  product  of  his  (kill,  which  lies  within 
him  (in  my  heart). 

The  ftrange  conceits  irr  this  fonnet  are  paralleled 
in  Conftable:  Diana  (1594);  Sonnet  5,  (p.  4,  ed. 
Hazlitt)  :— 

Thine  eye,  the  glaffe  where  I  behold  my  heart, 
Mine  eye,  the  window  through  the  which  thine  eye 
May  fee  my  heart,  and  there  thyfelfe  efpy 

In  bloody  colours  how  thou  painted  art. 
Compare  alfo  Watfon's  '  The  Teares  of  Fancie ', 
(I593)>  Sonnets  45,  46  (p.  201,  Thomas  Watfon, 
Poems,  ed.  Arber,  p.  201)  :  — 

My  Miflres  feeing  her  fair e  counterfet 
So  fweetelie  jramed  in  my  bleeding  brejl 

But  it  fo  fajl  was  fixed  to  my  heart,  etc. 

XXV.  In  this  fonnet  Shakfpere  makes  his  fir  ft 
complaint  againft  Fortune,  againft  his  low  condition. 
He  is  about  to  undertake  a  journey  on  fome  needful 
bufmefs  of  his  own  (xxvi.  xxvu.),  and  rejoices  to 
think  that  at  leaft  in  one  place  he  has  a  fixed  abode, 
in  his  friend's  heart  (1.  14). 


,  NOTES.  173 

Thoughts  of  the  cruelty  of  Fortune  reappear  and 
become  predominant  in  xxix.-xxxi. 

6.  The  marigold :  Compare  Conftable :  Diana ; 
Sonnet  9  :  — 

The  marigold  abroad  his  leaves  doth  fpread 
Becaufe  the  fun's  and  her  power  are  the  fame, 

and  Lucrece,  1.  397. 

There  are  three  plants  which  claim  to  be  the  old 
Marigold :  I .  The  marfh  marigold ;  this  does  not 
open  and  clofe  its  flowers  with  the  fun.  2.  The 
corn  marigold  ;  there  is  no  proof  that  this  was  called 
marigold  in  Shakfpere's  day.  3 .  The  garden  mari- 
gold or  Ruddes  (calendula  officinalis)  ;  it  turns  its 
flowers  to  the  fun,  and  follows  his  guidance  in  their 
opening  and  (hutting.  The  old  name  is  goldes ;  it 
was  the  Heliotrope,  Solfequium,  or  Turnefol  of  our 
forefathers.  (Condenfed  from  *  Marigold ',  in  Ella- 
combe's  '  Plant  Loreand  Garden  Craft  of '  Shakefpeare1 .) 

9.  Famoufed  for  fight.  The  Quarto  reads  for 
worth.  The  emendation  is  due  to  Theobald,  who 
'likewife  propofed  if  worth  was  retained  to  read 
ra^ed  forth  \ — Malone,  Capell  fuggefted/or  might. 

XXVI.  In  xxv.  Shakfpere  is  in  diffavour  with 
his  ftars,  and  unwillingly — as  I  fuppofe — about  to 
undertake  fome  needful  journey.  He  now  fends 
this  written  embaflage  to  his  friend  (perhaps  it  is 
the  Envoy  to  the  preceding  group  qf  fonnets),  and 
dares  to  anticipate  a  time  when  the  <  ftar  that  guides 
his  moving',  now  unfavourable,  may  point  on  him 
gracioufly  with  fair  afped  (1.  10). 


I74  NOTES. 

Drake  writes  (Shakfpeare  and  His  Times,  vol.  ii. 
p.  63)  : — *  Perhaps  one  of  the  moft  ftriking  proofs 
of  this  pofition  [that  the  Sonnets  are  addreffed  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton]  is  the  hitherto  unnoticed 
fad  that  the  language  of  the  Dedication  to  the  Rape  of 
Lucrece,  and  that  of  part  of  the  twenty-fixth  fonnet  are 
almoft  precifely  the  fame.  The  Dedication  runs 
thus: — The  love  I  dedicate  to  your  Lordfhip  is 
without  end.  .  .  .  The  warrant  I  have  of  your  honour- 
able difpofition,  not  the  worth  of  my  untutored  lines, 
makes  it  allured  of  acceptance.  What  I  have  is 
yours,  what  I  have  to  do  is  yours  ;  being  part  of  all 
I  have  devoted  yours.  Were  my  worth  greater, 
my  duty  would  mow  greater*.  C.  [Capell]  had 
previously  noted  the  parallel. 

i,  2.  Compare  Macbeth,  Ad  m.  fc.  i,  11.  15-18, 
6 Duties  .  .  .  knit'. 

8.  Bejlow  it,  lodge  it.  As  in  The  Tempejl,  Ad 
v.  1.  299  : — 

Hence,  and  lejlow  your  luggage  where  you  found,  it. 

Shakfpere  fays — I  hope  fome  happy  idea  of  yours 
will  convey  my  duty,  naked  as  it  is,  into  your  foul's 
thought. 

12.  Thy  fweet  refpeft,  regard.  The  Quarto  reads 
their  for  thy,  an  error  which  occurs  feveral  times. 

XXVII.  Written  on  a  journey,  which  removes 
Shakfpere  farther  and  farther  from  his  friend. 

3 .  Modern  edd.  put  a  comma  after  '  head '.  But 
is  not  the  conftrudion  '  a  journey  in  my  head  begins 
to  work  my  mind'? 

6.  Intend,    bend,    purfue :    ufed    frequently    of 


NOTES.  175 

travel.  '  Caefar  through  Syria  intends  his  journey ' 
Antony  &  Cleopatra,  Ad  v.  fc.  I,  1.  200. 

10.    Thy.      The     duarto     reads     their.      See 

XXVI.   12. 

u,  12.  Compare  Romeo  fr  Juliet ,  Ad  I.  fc.  5, 
11.  47,48  :- 

//  /££W5  Jhe  hangs  upon  the  cheek  of  night 
Like  a  rich  jewel  in  an  Ethiope's  ear. 

13,  14.  By  day  my  limbs  find  no  quiet,  for  my- 
felf,  i.e.  on  account  of  bufinefs  of  my  own ;  by  night 
my  mind  finds  no  quiet  for  thee,  i.e.  thinking  of  you. 

XXVIII.  A  continuation  of  Sonnet  xxvn. 

9.  Cambridge  edd.  and  Furnefs  read  *  I  tell  the 
day,  to  pleafe  him  thou  art  bright*. 

12.  Twire,  peep.  Compare  Ben  Jonfon,  Sad 
Shepherd,  Ad  n.  fc.  I  :  — 

Which  maids  will  twire  at,  tween  their  fingers,  thus. 

Marfton:  Antonio  &  Mellida,  Ad  rv.  (Works, 
vol.  i.  p.  5  2,  ed.  Halliwell),  '  I  fawe  a  thing  ftirre 
under  a  hedge,  and  I  peep't,  and  I  fpyed  a  thing, 
and  I  peer'd  and  I  tweerd  underneath*. 

Malone  conjectured  '  twirl  not ' ;  Steevens,  *  twirk 
not ' ;  Mafley,  '  tire  not ',  in  the  fenfe  of  attire. 

12.  Gild' ft.     The  duarto  reads  'guil'ftV 

13,  14.  Dyce  and  others  read  'And  night  doth 
nightly  make  grief's  ftrength  feem  ftronger ',  which 
poffibly  is  right.     The  meaning  of  the  Quarto  text 
muft  be  :  Each  day's  journey  draws  out  my  forrows 
to  a  greater  length;  but  this  procefs  of  drawing-out 


ij6  NOTES. 

does  not  weaken  my  forrows,  for  my  night-thoughts 
come  to  make  my  forrows  as  ftrong  as  before,  nay 
ftronger.  C.  [Capell]  fuggefted  to  Malone  'draw 
my  forrows  ftronger  .  .  .  length  feem  longer  \ 

XXIX.  Thefe  are  the  night-thoughts  referred  to 
in  the  lad  line  of  xxvm. ;  hence  a  fpecial  appro- 
priatenefs  in  the  image  Of  the  lark  rifmg  at  break  of 
day. 

8.  With  what  I  moft  enjoy  contented  leajl.  The 
preceding  line  makes  it  not  improbable  that  Shak- 
fpere  is  here  fpeaking  of  his  own  poems. 

12.  Sings  hymns  at  heaven's  gate.  Compare 
Cymbeline,  Ad  n.  fc.  3,  11.  21,  22  :— 

Hark,  hark  !  the  lark  at  heaven's  gate  Jingst 
And  Pbcebus  ygins  arife. 

Lyly :   Campafpe,  Ad  v.  fc.  i  : — 

How  at  heaven's  gates  fhe  [the  lark]  claps  her  wings, 
The  morne  not  waking  till  Jhee  Jlngs. 

XXX.  Sonnet  xxix.  was  occupied  with  thoughts 
of  prefent  wants  and  troubles  ;  xxx.  tells  of  thoughts 
of  paft  griefs  and  lofles. 

i,  2.  Compare  Othello,  Ad  m.  fc.  3, 11.  138-141, 
'  apprehenfions  ...  in  feflion  fit'. 

6.  DateJefs,  endlefs,  as  in  Sonnet  CLIII.,  <  a  date- 
lefs,  lively  heat,  ftill  to  endure*. 

8.  Moan  the  expenfe.  Schmidt  explains  expenfe 
as  lofs,  but  does  not  '  moan  the  expenfe '  mean  pay 
my  account  of  moans  for  ?  The  words  are  explained 
by  what  follows :— 


NOTES.  177 

Tell  o'er 

The  fad  account  of  fore-bemoaned  moan 
Which  I  new  pay  as  if  not  paid  "before. 

Malone  has  a  long  note  idly  attempting  to  (how 
that  fight  is  ufed  for  figh. 
10.  Tell  o'er,  count  over. 

XXXI.  Continues  the  fubjed  of  xxx.— Shakfpere's 
friend  compenfates  all  lofles  in  the  paft. 

5.  Obfequious,  funereal,  as  in  Hamlet,  A&  I.  fc. 
2,  1.  92,  '  To  do  obfequious  forrow'. 

6.  Dear  religious  love.     In  A  Lover's  Complaint, 
the  beautiful  youth  pleads  to  his  love  that  all  earlier 
hearts  which  had  paid  homage  to  him  now  yield 
themfelves  through  him  to  her  fervice  (a  thought 
fimilar  to  that  of  this  fonnet) ;  one  of  thefe  fair 
admirers   was   a   nun,    a   lifter   fandified,   but   (1. 
250):— 

Religious  love  put  out  Religion's  eye. 

8.  In  thee  lie.     The  Quarto  reads  '  in  there  lie '. 

10.  Hung  with  the  trophies  of  my  lovers  gone. 
Compare  from  the  fame  paffage  of  A  Lover's  Com- 
plaint  (I-  218):— 

Lo,  all  thefe  trophies  of  affeftions  hot 
.  .  .  mujl  your  ollations  le. 

XXXII.  From  the  thought  of  dead  friends  of 
whom  he  is  the  furvivor,  Shakfpere  pafles  to  the 
thought  of  his  'own  death,  and  his  friend  as  the 
furvivor.  This  fonnet  reads  like  an  Envoy. 


173  NOTES. 

4.  Lover,  commonly  ufed  by  Elizabethan  writers 
generally  for  one  who  loves  another,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  fpecial  paflion  of  love  between  man  and 
woman.      In    Coriolanus,   Ad   V.    fc.    2,    1.    13, 
Menenius  fays :  — 

/  tell  thee,  fellow, 
Thy  general  is  my  lover* 

'Ben  Jonfon  concludes  one  of  his  letters  to  Dr. 
Donne,  by  telling  him  that  he  is  his  "  ever  true 
lover  " ;  and  Drayton,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Drummond 
of  Hawthornden,  informs  him  that  Mr.  Jofeph  Davies 
is  in  love  with  him'. — MALONE. 

5.  6.  May  we  infer  from  thefe  lines  (and    10) 
that  Shakfpere  had  a  fenfe  of  the  wonderful  progrefs 
of  poetry  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  ? 

7.  Referve,  preferve ;  fo  Pericles,  Ad  iv.  fc.  I, 
1.  40,  '  Referve  that  excellent  complexion*. 

XXXIII.  A  new  group  feems  to  begin  with  this 
fonnet.  It  introduces  the  wrongs  done  to  Shakfpere 
by  his  friend. 

4.  Compare  King  John,  Ad  m.  fc.  i,  11.  77-80:— 

The  glorious  fun 
.  Stays  in  his  courfe  and  plays  the  alchemijl,  etc. 

6.  Rack,  a  mafs  of  vapoury  clouds. 

'  The  winds  in  the  upper  region,  which  move  the 
clouds  above  (which  we  call  the  rack),1  Bacon,  Sylva 
Sylvarum,  §  115,  p.  32,  ed.  1658  (quoted  by 
Dyce,  Glo/ary  under  rack).  Compare  with  5,  6, 
i  King  Henry  iv.,  Ad  I.  fc.  2,  11.-  221-227  : — 


NOTES.  179 

Herein  will  I  imitate  tin  fun, 
Who  doth  permit  the  bafe  contagious  clouds 
To  f mother  up  his  beauty  from  the  world, 
That,  when  he  pleafe  again  to  be  himfelf, 
Being  wanted,  he  may  be  more  wondered  at, 
By  breaking  through  the  foul  and  ugly  mijls 
Of  vapours  that  did  feem  to  fir  angle  him. 

8.     To  weft,  Steevens  propofes  to  reft. 

12.  The  region  cloud,  compare  Hamlet,  Acl:  n. 
fc.  2, 1.  606,  '  the  region  kites'.  Region  '  originally 
a  divifion  of  the  fky  marked  out  by  the  Roman 
augurs.  In  later  times  the  atmofphere  was  divided 
into  three  regions,  upper,  middle,  and  lower.  By 
Shakefpeare  the  word  is  ufed  to  denote  the  air 
generally'. — Clarendon  Prefs  Hamlet. 

14.  Stain,  ufed  in  the  tranfitive  and  intranfltive 
fenfes  for  dim.  Watfon,  Tears  of  Fancie,  Sonnet 
LV.,  fays  of  the  fun  and  the  moon  *  his  beauty  ftains 
her  brightnefs'.  Faithleflhefs  in  friendfhip  is  fpoken 
of  in  the  fame  way  as  a  ftain  in  Sonnet  cix.  1 1,  12. 

XXXIV.  Carries  on  the  idea  and  metaphor  of  xxxm. 

4.  Rotten  fmoke  ;  we  find  fmoke  meaning  vapour 
in  i  King  Henry  vi.,  Aft  n.  fc.  2,  1.  27  :  compare 
Coriolanus,  Ad  in.  fc.  3,  1.  121,  'reek  o'  the 
rotten  fens'. 

12.  Crofs,  the  Quarto  reads  lo/e.  The  forty- 
fecond  fonnet  confirms  the  emendation,  and 
explains  what  this  crofs  and  this  lofs  were : — 

Loftng  her  [his  miftrefs],  my  friend  hath  found  that 

Both  find  each  other,  and  I  lofe  both  twain,    [lofs  ; 

And  both  for  my  fake  lay  on  me  this  crofs. 


i8o  NOTES. 

See  alfo  Sonnet  cxxxm.  addreffed  to  his  lady,  in 
which  Shakfpere  fpeaks  of  himfelf  as  'croffed'  by 
her  robbery  of  his  friend's  heart;  and  Sonnet  cxxxiv. 
1.  13,  'Him  have  I  lojl\ 

XXXV.  The  '  tears '  of  xxxiv.  fugged  the  open- 
ing. Moved  to  pity,  Shakfpere  will  find  guilt  in 
himfelf  rather  than  in  his  friend. 

5,  6.  And  even  I,  etc.,  and  even  I  am  faulty  in 
this,  that  I  find  precedents  for  your  mifdeed  by 
comparifons  with  rofes,  fountains,  fun,  and  moon. 

7.  Salving  thy  amifs,  Shakfpere's  friend  offers  a 
falve,  xxxiv. ;  fee  alfo  cxx.  1 2  ;  here  Shakfpere  in 
his  turn  tries  to  '  falve '  his  friend's  wrong-doing. 
Capell  propofes  '  corrupt  in  falving'. 

8.  The  word  thy  in  this  line  is  twice  printed  their 
in  the  Quarto.     Steevens  explains  the  line  thus  :  — 
'  Making  the  excufe  more  than  proportioned  to  the 
offence '.     Stanton  propofes   *  more  than  thy  £ns 
bear ',  i.e.  I  bear  more  fins  than  thine. 

9.  Infenfe,  Malone  propofed  incenfe.     Senfe  here 
means  reafon,  judgment,  difcretion.     If  we  receive 
the  prefent  text,  'thy  adverfe  party*  (1.   10)  muft 
mean  Shakfpere.     But  may  we  read  : — 

For  to  thy  fenfual  fault  I  bring  in  fenfe,  [i.e. 

judgment,  reafon] 
Thy  adverfe  party,  as  thy  advocate. 

Senfe— againft  which  he  has  offended— brought  in 
as  his  advocate  ? 

14.  Sweet  thief y  etc.,  compare  Sonnet  XL.  :  — 

I  do  forgive  thy  robbery,  gentle  thief. 


NOTES.  181 

XXXVI.  According  to  the  announcement  made 
in  xxxv.,  Shakfpere  proceeds  to  make  himfelf  out 
the  guilty  party. 

i .  We  two  mujl  be  twain.  So  Troilus  &  CreJJida, 
Act  m.  fc.  i,l.  no,  '  She  '11  none  of  him ;  they  two 
are  twain '. 

5.  Refpeft,  regard,  as  in  Coriolanus,  Act  in.  fc.  3, 

1.    112. 

6.  Separable  fpite.     '  A  cruel  fate,  that  fpitefully 
feparates  us  from  each  other.     Separable  for  fepa- 
rating  '.—M  ALONE. 

9.  Evermore^    'Perhaps    ever    more'. — W.    S. 
WALKER. 

10.  My  bewailed  guilt.     Explained  by  Spalding 
and  others  as  '  the  blots  that  remain  with  Shakfpere 
on  account  of  his  profeffion '  as  an  actor.     But  per- 
haps the  paflage  means  :  '  I  may  not  claim  you  as  a 
friend,  left  my  relation  to  the  dark  woman — now  a 
matter  of  grief — fhould  convict  you  of  faithleflhefs  in 
friendfhip*. 

1 2.  That  honour y  i.e.  the  honour  which  you  give 
me. 

13,  14.  Thefe  lines  are  repeated  in  Sonnet  xcvi. 

XXXVII.  Continues  the  thought  of  xxxvi.  13,  14. 
3.  /,  made  lame.     Compare  Sonnet  LXXXIX.  : — 

Speak  of  my  lamenefs  and  I  Jlraight  will  halt. 

Shakfpere  ufes  '  to  lame '  in  the  fenfe  of '  difable'; 
here  the  worth  and  truth  of  his  friend  are  fet  over 
againft  the  lamenefs  of  Shakfpere ;  the  lamenefs  then 


1 82  NOTES. 

is  metaphorical ;  a  difability  to  join  in  the  joyous 
movement  of  life,  as  his  friend  does.  Capell  and 
others  conje&ured  that  Shakfpere  was  literally  lame. 
3 .  Dearejl,  chief,  ftrongeft ;  as  in  Hamlet,  A£t  I. 
fc.  2,  1.  182  :  — 

Would  I  had  met  my  deareft/o£  in  heaven. 

7.  Entitled  in  thy  parts  do  crowned  fit.  The 
Quarto  reads  c their  parts';  but  the  mifprint  their 
for  thy  happens  feveral  times.  Schmidt  accepts  the 
Quarto  text  and  explains,  '  i.e.  or  more  excellencies, 
having  a  juft  claim  to  the  firft  place  as  their  due. 
Blundering  M.  Edd.  e.  in  thy  parts'.  'Entitled  means, 
I  think,  ennobled '. — MALONE.  '  Perhaps '.  — DYCE. 
Perhaps  it  means  *  having  a  title  in,  having  a  claim 
upon',  as  in  Lucrece,  57  : — 

But  beauty  in  that  white  [the  palenefs  of  Lucrece]. 

intituled, 
From  Venus'  doves  doth  challenge  that  fair  field. 

XXXVIII.  The  fame  thought  as  that  of  the  two 
preceding  fonnels :  Shakfpere  will  look  on,  delight 
in  his  friend,  and  fmg  his  praife.     In  xxxvu.  14, 
Shakfpere  is  'ten  times  happy'  in  his  friend's  happi- 
hefs  and    glory;    thus  he  receives  ten     times  the 
infpiration  of  other  poets  from  his  friend  who  is  *  the 
tenth  Mufe,  ten  times  more  in  worth '  than  the  old 
nine  Mufes. 

XXXIX.  In  xxxvm.  Shakfpere  declares  that  he 
will  fmg  his  friend's  praifes,  but  in  xxxvu.  he  had 
fpoken  of  his  friend  as  the  better  part  of  himfelf. 


NOTES.  183 

He  now  aflcs  how  he  can  with  modefty  fmg  the 
worth  of  his  own  better  part.  Thereupon  he 
returns  to  the  thought  of  xxxvi.  'we  two  muft 
be  twain';  and  now.,  not  only  are  the  two  lives  to 
be  divided,  but '  our  dear  love' — undivided  in  xxxvi. 
— muft  Mofe  name  of  fmgle  one'. 

12.  Doth.     The  Quarto  has  <doft'. 

13,  14.  Abfence  teaches  how  to  make  of  the 
abfent  beloved  two  perfons,  one,  abfent  in  reality, 
the  other,  prefent  to  imagination. 

XL.  In  xxxix.  Shakfpere  defires  that  his  love  and 
his  friend's  may  be  feparated,  in  order  that  he  may 
give  his  friend  what  otherwife  he  muft  give  alfo  to 
himfelf.  Now,  feparated,  he  gives  his  beloved  all 
his  loves,  yet  knows  that,  before  the  gift,  all  his 
was  his  friend's  by  right.  '  Our  love  lofmg  name 
of  fmgle  one'  (xxxix.  6)  fuggefts  the  manifold  loves, 
mine  and  thine. 

5.  Then  if  for  love  of  me  thou  receiveft  her 
whom  I  love. 

6.  For,  becaufe :  I  cannot  blame  thee  for  ufing 
my  love,  i.e.  her  whom  I  love. 

7.  8.  The   Quarto   has  'this   felfe'  for  thyfelf. 
Yet  you  are  to  blame  if  you  deceive  yourfelf  by  an 
unlawful  union  while  you  refufe  loyal  wedlock. 

1 1 .  And  yet  love  knows  it.  Printed  by  many 
editors,  '  And  yet,  love  knows,  it '. 

XLI.  The  thought  of  XL.  13,*  Lafcivious  grace, 
in  whom  all  ill  well  fhows '  is  carried  out  in  this 
fonnet. 


1 84  NOTES. 

i.  Pretty  wrongs.     Bell  and  Palgrave  read  petty. 
5,  6.  Compare  I   King  Henry  vi.,  Ad  v.  fc.  3, 

H.  77,  78  :- 

She's  beautiful  and  therefore  to  be  woo'd ; 
She  is  a  woman,  therefore  to  be  won. 

8.  Till  fhe  have  prevailed.     The  Qjuarto  has  *  till 
/;<?',  which  may  be  right. 

9.  Thou  mi ghtjl  my  feat  forbear.     Malone  reads 
'Thou  might'ft,  my  fweet,  forbear';  but  'feat'  is 
right,  and  the  meaning   is  explained   by   Othello, 
Ad  II.  fc.  i,  1.  304,  (lago  jealous  of  Othello)  :— 

/  do  fufpeft  the  lujly  Moor 
Hath  leaped  into  my  feat. 
Dr.  Ingleby  adds,  as  a  parallel,  Lucrece,  412,  41 3. 

XLII.  In  XLI.  13,  14,  Shakfpere  declares  that  he 
lofes  both  friend  and  miftrefs ;  he  now  goes  on  to 
fay  that  the  lofs  of  his  friend  is  the  greater  of  the  two. 

10,  12.  The  'lofs'  and  'crofs*'  of  thefe  lines  are 
fpoken  of  in  xxxiv. 

11.  Both  twain.      This  is  found  alfo  in  Love's 
Labours  Loft,  Ad  v.  fc.  2,  1.  459. 

XLIII.  Does  this  begin  a  new  group  of  Sonnets  ? 

1.  Wink,  to  clofe  the  eyes,  not  neceffarily  for  a 
moment,   but   as   in   fleep.      Compare    Cymbeliney 
Ad  ii.  fc.  3,11.  25,  26:— 

And  winking  Mary-buds  begin 
To  ope  their  golden  eyes. 

2.  Unrefpeftedy  unregarded. 

4.  And  darkly,  etc.  And  illumined,  although 
clofed,  are  clearly  direded  in  the  darknefs. 


NOTES.  185 

5.  Whofe  fhadow  Jhadows,  etc.     Whofe  image 
makes  bright  the  ftiades  of  night. 

6.  Shadow's  form,   the    form   which   cafts   thy 
fhadow. 

1 1 .   Thy.     The  Quarto  has  their. 

13,  14.  All  days  are  nights  to  fee,  etc.  Malone 
propofed  'nights  to  me\  Steevens  defending  the 
Quarto  text  explains  it  '  All  days  are  gloomy  to  'be- 
hold,  i.e.  look  like  nights '.  Mr.  Lettfom  propofed : — 

All  days  are  nights  to  me  ////  thee  I  fee,         [thee. 
And  nights  bright  days  when  dreams  do  Jhow  me 

<To  fee  till  I  fee  thee',  is  probably  right  in  this 
fonnet,  which  has  a  more  than  common  fancy  for 
doubling  a  word  in  the  fame  line,  as  in  lines  4,  5,6. 

XLIV.  In  XLIII.  he  obtains  fight  of  his  friend  in 
dreams ;  XLIV.  expreffes  the  longing  of  the  waking 
hours  to  come  into  his  friend's  prefence  by  fome 
preternatural  means. 

4.  Where  thou  dofl  Jlay.  I  would  be  brought 
where  (i.e.  to  where)  thou  doft  flay. 

9.  Thought  kills  me.     Perhaps  'thought'  here 
means  melancholy  contemplation,  as  in  Julius  Cafar 
Ad  ii.  fc.  1,1.  187,  'Take  thought  and  die  for  Caefar'. 

10.  So  much  of  earth  and  water  wrought.     So 
large    a   proportion   of   earth   and    water    having 
entered  into  my  compofition.     Twelfth  Night,  Ad 
ii.  fc.   3,  1.   10,  'Does  not  our  life  confift  of  the 
four  elements?'     Antony  &  Cleopatra,  Ad  v.  fc.  2, 
1.    292 ;   King  Henry  v.,  Act   IIL   fc.   7,  L   22 ; 


1 86  NOTES. 

'He  is  pure  air  and  fire;  and  the  dull  elements 
of  earth  and  water  never  appear  in  him,  but  only 
in  patient  ftillnefs,  etc.* 

XLV.  Sonnet  XLIV.  tells  of  the  duller  elements  of 
earth  and  water;  this  fonnet,  of  the  elements  of 
air  and  fire. 

9.  Recur  ed,  reftored  to  wholenefs  and  foundnefs. 
Venus  &  Adonis,  1.  465. 

12.  Thy  fair  health.  The  Quarto  has  their  for 
thy. 

XL VI.  As  XLIV.  and  XLV.  are  a  pair  of  com- 
panion fonnets,  fo  are  XLVI.  and  XLVII.  The  theme 
of  the  firft  pair  is  the  oppofition  of  the  four  elements 
in  the  perfon  of  the  poet ;  the  theme  of  the  'fecond 
is  the  oppofition  of  the  heart  and  the  eye,  i.e.  of 
love  and  the  fenfes. 

3.  Thy  pifturis  fight.  The  Quarto  has  their, 
fo  alfo  in  lines  8,  13,  14. 

I  o.  A  quejl  of  thoughts,  an  inqueft  or  jury. 

12.  Moiety,  portion. 

XLVII.  Companion  fonnet  to  the  laft. 
3.  Famijhed  for  a  look.     Compare  Sonnet  LXXV. 
10.     So  Comedy  of  Errors,  Ad  II.  fc.  I,  1.  88  :  — 
Whilfl  I  at  home  Jlarve  for  a  merry  look. 

10.  Art  prefenf.  The  Quarto  has  are. 

11,  12.  Not.     Quarto  nor.     The  fame  thought 
which  appears  in  XLV. 

Compare  Sonnets  xix.,  xx.  of  Watfon's  Tears  of 
Fancie,  1593  (Watfon's  Poems,  ed.  Arber,  p.  1 88) :  — 


NOTES. 

My  hart  impofd  this  penance  on  mine  eies, 
(Eies  the  firjl  caufers  of  my  harts  lamenting) : 
That  they  Jhould  weepe  till  loue  andfancie  diesf 
Fond  love  the  lajl  caufe  of  my  harts  repenting. 
Mine  eies  vpon  my  hart  inflifl,  this  paine 
(Bold  hart  that  dard  to  harbour  thoughts  of  loue) 
That  it  fhould  loue  and  pur  chafe  fell  difdainef 
A  grieuous  penance  which  my  heart  doth  proue, 
Mine  eies  did  weep  as  hart  had  them  impofed, 
My  hart  did  pine  as  eies  had  it  conjlrainedf  etc. 
Sonnet  xx.  continues  the  fame : — 

My  hart  accufd  mine  eies  and  was  offendedf 

Hart  f aid  that  loue  did  enter  at  the  eiesf 

And  from  the  eies  defcended  to  the  hart ; 

Eies  f  aid  that  in  the  hart  didfparkes  arifef  etc. 
Compare  alfo  Diana    (ed.    1584),   Sixth   Decade, 
Sonnet  vn.  (Arber's  Englifh  Garner ,  vol.  ii.  p.  254); 
and  Drayton,  Idea,  3  3 . 

XL VIII.  Line  6  of  XLVL,  in  which  Shakfpere  fpeaks 
of  keeping  his  friend  ^in  the  clofet  of  his  breaft  : — 

A  clofet  never  pierced  with  cryjlal  eyest 
fuggefts  XLVIII.  ;  fee  lines  9-12.     I  have  faid  he  is 
fafe  in  my  breaft ;  yet  ah !  I  feel  he  is  not. 

1 1 .  Gentle  clofure  of  my  breajl.  So  Venus  & 
Adonisy  1.  782,  *  the  quiet  clofure  of  my  breaft  '. 

14.  Does  not  this  refer  to  the  woman,  who  has 
fworn  love  (CLII.  1.  2),  and  whofe  truth  to 
Shakfpere  (fpoken  of  in  XLI.  13)  now  proves 
thievifh?  Compare  Venus  &  Adonis,  1.  724, 
'Rich  preys  make  true  men  thieves'. 


1 88  NOTES. 

XLIX.  Continues  the  fad  ftrain  with  which  XLVin. 
clofes, 

3.  Caft  his  utmojl  fum,  clofed  his  account  and 
caft  up  the  fum  total. 

4.  Advifed    ref peels,    deliberate,    well-confidered 
reafons.     So  King  John,  Aft  iv.  fc.  2,  1.  214. 

8.  Reafons,  i.e.  for  its  converfion  from  the  thing 
it  was. 

9.  Enfconce,  '  protect  or  cover  as  with  a  fconce 
or  fort'.— DYCE. 

I  o.  Defert.     Quarto  defart,  rhyming  with  part. 

L.  This  fonnet  and  the  next  are  a  pair,  as  XLIV. 
XLV.  are,  and  XLVI.  XLVII.  The  journey  L  I  is 
that  fpoken  of  in  XLVIII.  1.  i. 

6.  Dully.  The  Quarto  has  duly,  but  compare 
LI.  2,  '  my  dull  bearer  ',  and  1.  1 1,  '  no  dull  flefh*. 

LI.  Companion  to  L. 

6.  Swift  extremity,  the  extreme  of  fwifmefs.     So 
Macbeth,  Ad  I.  fc.  4,  1.  17  :— 

Swifted  wing  of  recommence  is  flow. 

7.  Mounted  on  the  wind.     So  2  King  Henry  rv. . 
Induction,  1.  4,  *  Making  the  wind  my  pojl-horfe '. 
Compare  Cymbeline,  Ad  in.  fc.  4,1.  38;  Macbeth, 
Ad  i.  fc.  7,  11.  21-23. 

10.  PerfecVft.     The  Quarto  \izsperfefts. 

11.  Malone  and  other  editors  print: — 

Shall  neigh  (no  dull  flefh)  in,  etc. 

i.e.  Defire  fliall  neigh,  being  no  dull  flefli,  etc.     But 
does  it  not  mean,  Defire,  which  is  all  love,  fhall  neigh, 


NOTES.  189 

there  being  no  dull  flefli  to  cumber  him  as  he  nifties 
forward  in  his  fiery  race  ?  Compare  the  neighing 
ftallion  of  Adonis,  Venus  &  Adonis,  11.  300-312. 

14.  Go,  move  ftep  by  ftep,  walk,  as  in  The 
Tempejl,  Ad  HI.  fc.  2,  1.  22. 

STEPHANO. —  We'll  not  run,  Monfieur  Monjler. 
TRINCULO.  —  Nor  go  neither. 
I  have  placed  the  laft  two  lines,  fpoken  as  I  take 
it,  by  Love,  within  inverted  commas. 

LII.  The  joy  of  hope,  the  hope  of  meeting  his 
friend  fpoken  of  in  the  laft  fonnet  (LI.). 

4.  For  Hunting,  becaufe  it  would  blunt.  So  The 
Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  Ad  I.  fc.  2,  1.  136, 
'Yet  here  they  ftiall  not  lie,  for  catching  cold*. 

7-12.  So  I  King  Henry  iv.,  Ad  in.  fc.  2,  11. 
55-59'- 

Thus  did  I  keep  my  perfon  frefh  and  new  ; 

My  prefence,  like  a  robe  pontifical f 

Ne'r  feen  but  wonder' d  at :  and  fo  my  Jlate, 

Seldom  but  fumptuous,  flowed  like  a  feaft 

And  won  ly  rarenefs  fuch  folemnity. 

8.  Captain,  chief.  So  Timon  of  Athens,  Ad  m. 
fc.  5,1.  49  (Dyce  ;  but  qu.?  captain  fubftantive)  : — 
'  The  afs  more  captain  than  the  lion*. 

Carcanet,  necklace,  or  collar  of  jewels.  Comedy 
of  Errors,  Ad  m.  fc.  i,  1.  4. 

LIII.  Not  being  able,  in  abfence,  to  poflefs  his 
friend,  he  finds  his  friend's  fhadow  in  all  beautiful 
things. 


190  NOTES. 

4.  You,  although  but  one  perfon,  can  give  off  all 
manner  of  fhadowy  images.       Shakfpere  then,  to 
illuftrate  this,  choofes  the  moft  beautiful  of  men, 
Adonis,  and  the  moft  beautiful  of  women,  Helen; 
both  are  but  fhadows  or  counterfeits  (i.e.  pictures, 
as  in  Sonnet  xvi.)  of  the  '  mafter-miftrefs '  of  his 
paflion. 

8.  Tires,  head-dreffes,  or,  generally,  attire. 

9.  Foifon,  abundance.     As  in   The  Tempejl,  Ad 
iv.  fc.   i,  1.   no.     Compare  Antony  dr  Cleopatra, 
Ad  v.  fc.  2,  1.  86  :— 

For  his  bounty 

There  was  no  winter  in  't ;  an  autumn  'twas 
That  grew  the  more  by  reaping. 

12.  Ble/ed.  The  fancy  Shakfpere  has  taken  for  this 
word  in  LII.  1 ,  1 1 ,  13,  runs  on  into  this  fonnet. 

LIV.  Continues  the  thought  of  Lin.  There  Shak- 
fpere declared  that  over  and  above  external  beauty, 
more  real  than  that  of  Helen  and  Adonis,  his  friend 
was  pre-eminent  for  his  conftancy,  his  truth.  Now 
he  proceeds  to  celebrate  the  worth  of  this  truth. 

5.  Canker-blooms,    bloffoms    of    the    dog-rofe. 
Much  Ado  about  Nothing,  Ad  I.  fc.   3,  1.   28,  'I 
had  rather  be  a  canker  in  a  hedge  than  a  rofe  in  his 
grace*. 

8.  Difdofes,  opens,  as  in  Hamlet,  Ad  I.  fc.  3, 
1.  40:  — 

The  canker  galls  the  infants  of  the  fpring 
Too  oft  before  their  buttons  be  difclofed. 


NOTES.  191 

9.  For  their  virtue,  becaufe  their  virtue.     For  as 
in  Othello,  Ad  m.  fc.  3,  1.  263,   *  Haply,  for  I  am 
black'. 

10.  Unref petted,  unregarded. 

n,  12.  See  the  quotation  from  A  Midfummer 
Night's  Dream,  in  note  on  Sonnet  v.  9. 

14.  When  that,  beauty,  the  general  fubjecl:  of  the 
fonnet ;  or  youth,  taken  from  *  fweet  and  lovely 
youth  '  of  L.  13. 

Fade,  fade,  as  in  PaJ/ionate  Pilgrim,  x.  I. 

By  verfe.  So  the  Quarto.  Malone  reads  '  my  verfe '. 

LV.  A  continuation  of  Liv.  This  looks  like  an 
Envoy,  but  LVI.  is  ftill  a  fonnet  of  abfence.  See  on 
this  fonnet,  Introduction,  p.  xliii. 

i.  Monuments.     The  Quarto  has  monument. 

3.  Thefe  contents,  what  is  contained  in  this 
rhyme. 

1 4 .  77/7  the  judgement  that  yourfelf  arife,  till  the  de- 
cree of  the  judgment-day  that  you  arife  from  the  dead. 

LVI.  This,  like  the  fonnets  immediately  preceding, 
is  written  in  abfence  (lines  9,  10).  The  'love* 
Shakfpere  addreffes,  'Sweet  love,  renew  thy  force', 
is  the  love  in  his  own  breaft.  Is  the  fight  of  his 
friend,  of  which  he  fpeaks,  only  the  imaginative 
feeing  of  love ;  fuch  fancied  fight  as  two  betrothed 
perfons  may  have  although  fevered  by  the  ocean? 

6.  Wink.  See  note  on  XLIII.  i.  Here,  to  fleep 
as  after  a  full  meal. 

8.  Dullnefs.  Taken  in  connection  with  'wink', 
meaning  Deep,  dullnefs  feems  to  mean  drowfinefs,  as 


1 92  NOTES. 

when   Profpero   fays  of  Miranda's    flumber   (The 
Tempejl,  Ad  I.  fc.  2,  1.  185)  <  'Tis  a  good  dulnefs'. 
1 3 .   Or.     The  Quarto  has  As.     Mr.   Palgrave 
reads  Elfe. 

LVII.  The  abfence  fpoken  of  in  this  fonnet  feems 
to  be  voluntary  abfence  on  the  part  of  Shakfpere's 
friend. 

5.  World-witbout-end   hour,   the   tedious    hour, 
that  feems  as  if  it  would  never  end.     So  Love's 
Labour's  Lojl,   Ad  v.    fc.    2,  1.   799,   *a   world- 
without-end  bargain*. 

13.  Will.  The  Quarto  has  Will  (capital  <W, 
but  not  italics).  If  a  play  on  words  is  intended,  it 
muft  be  '  Love  in  your  Will  (i.e.  your  Will  Shak- 
fpere)  can  think  no  evil  of  you,  do  what  you  pleafe' ; 
and  alfo  'Love  can  difcover  no  evil  in  your  will'. 

LVIII.  A  clofe  continuation  of  LVII.  ;  growing 
diftruft  in  his  friend,  with  a  determination  to  refift 
fuch  a  feeling.  Hence  the  attempt  to  difqualify 
himfelf  for  judging  his  friend's  conduct,  by  taking 
the  place  of  a  vaflal,  a  fervant,  a  Have,  in  relation  to 
a  fovereign. 

6.  The  imprifon*d   abfence  of  your   liberty,  the 
feparation  from  you,  which  is  proper  to  your  ftate 
of  freedom,  but  which  to  me  is  imprifonment.     Or 
the  want  of  fuch  liberty  as  you  poffefs,  which  I,  a 
prifoner,  fuffer. 

8.  Tame  to  fuffer ance,  bearing  tamely  even  cruel 
diftrefs ;  or,  tame  even  to  the  point  of  entire  fub- 
milfion. 


NOTES.  193 

II.  To  what  you  will.  Malone  reads  '  time  :  Do 
what  you  wilF. 

LIX.  Is  this  conneded  with  the  preceding  fonnet? 
or  a  new  ftarting-point  ?  Immortality  conferred  by 
verfe,  LIV.-LV.,  is  again  taken  up  in  Sonnet  LX.  con- 
neded  with  LIX.,  and  jealoufy,  LVII.  in  LXI. 

8.  Since  mind,  etc.,  '  Since  thought  was  firfl 
expreffed  in  writing'.  —  Schmidt. 

1 1 .  Wliether,  etc.       '  Whether  *  is   often  mono- 
fyllabic   in   Elizabethan    verfe.       In   this   line   the 
Quarto  prints  the  fecond  *  whether '  where ;  fo  in 
Venus  &  Adonis,  1.   3  04,  '  And  where  he  run  or 
fly   they   know   not   whether '.      The    Cambridge 
editors  read  '  Whether  we  are  mended,  or  whether 
better  they  '.     Dyce  reads  *  Whether  we're  mended 
or  wher  better  they'. 

12.  Or  whether,  etc.,  i.e.  whether  the  ages,  re- 
volving on  themfelves,  return  to  the  fame  things. 

LX.  The  thought  of  revolution,  the  revolving 
ages,  LIX.  12,  fets  the  poet  thinking  of  changes 
wrought  by  time. 

5 .  The  main  of  light ;  The  entrance  of  a  child 
into  the  world  at  birth  is  an  entrance  into  the  main 
or  ocean  of  light ;  the  image  is  fuggefted  by  1.  I , 
where  our  minutes  are  compared  to  waves. 

FlouriJJ)  fet  on  youth,  external  decoration  of 
youth.  So  in  Nafli's  Summer's  Lajl  Will  &  Tejla- 
ment  (Hazlitt's  Dodjley,  vol.  viii.  p.  73),  'Folly 
Erafmus  fets  a  flour  ijh  on  '. 

10.  Compare  Sonnet  n.  i,  2. 

1 3 .  Times  in  hope,  future  times. 


194  NOTES. 

LXI.  The  jealous  feeling  of  LVII.  reappears  in 
this  fonnet. 

7.  Idle  hours.  So  in  the  dedication  of  Venus  & 
Adonis,  'I  ...  vowe  to  take  advantage  of  all  idle 
hours,  till  I  have  honoured  you  with  fome  graver 
labour '. 

1 1 .  Defeat,  deftroy.  Othello,  A3:  iv.  fc.  2,1  1 60, 
'  His  unkindnefs  may  defeat  my  life '. 

LXII.  Perhaps  the  thought  of  jealoufy  in  LXI. 
fuggefts  this.  'How  felf-loving  to  fuppofe  my 
friend  could  be  jealous  of  fuch  an  one  as  I — beated 
and  chopp'd  with  tann'd  antiquity !  My  apology 
for  fuppofing  that  others  could  make  love  to  me  is 
that  my  friend's  beauty  is  mine  by  right  of  friendfhip.' 

7.  And  for  my f elf,  etc.     Sidney  Walker  conjec- 
tures */o  define';  Lettfom  'And/o  myfelP.     Does 
'  for  myfelf '  mean  '  for  my  own  fatiffaction  '? 

8.  As  I,  [define]  in  fuch  a  way  that  I. 

10.  Beated  and  chopp'd.  'Beated  was  perhaps  a 
mifprint  for  'bated.  'Bated  is  properly  overthrown; 
laid  low;  abated;  from  dbattre,  Fr.  .  .  .  Beated, 
however,  the  regular  participle  from  the  verb  to 
beat,  may  be  right.  ...  In  King  Henry  v.  we  find 
cajled,  and  in  Macbeth,  thru/led  '. — MALONE. 

Steevens  conjedured  blafted ;  Collier,  beaten. 
Compare  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  in.  fc.  3, 
1.  32,  <  Thefe  griefs  and  lofles  have  fo  bated  me  '. 

Chopp'd.     Dyce  reads  chapp'd. 

13.'  Tis  thee,  myfelf,  etc.  Tis  thee  my  alter  ego, 
my  fecond  felf,  that  I  praife  as  if  myfelf. 

LXIII.  Obvioufly  in  clofe  continuation  of  LXII. 


NOTES.  195 

5.  Sleepy  night.  So  King  Richard  in.,  Ad  IV. 
fc.  4,  1.  1 6 ;  '  dimm'd  your  infant  morn  to  aged 
night '.  The  epithet  *  fteepy '  is  explained  by 
Sonnet  vn.  5,  6.  Youth  and  age  are  on  the  fleep 
afcent,  and  the  fteep  decline  of  heaven. 

9.  For  fucb  a  time.  In  anticipation  of  fuch  a 
time. 

Fortify,  ered  defensive  works.  Compare  'the 
wreckful  fiege  of  battering  days',  Sonnet  LXV.  6. 

LXIV.  In  LXIII.  12,  the  thought  of  the  lofs  of  his 
*  lover's  life  '  occurs ;  this  fonnet  (fee  1.  1 2)  carries 
on  the  train  of  reflection  there  ftarted.  *  Time's  fell 
hand',  1.  i  repeats  *  Time's  injurious  hand'  of  LXIII.  2, 
5,9.  Compare  2  King  Henry  IV.,  Ad  in.  fc.  i, 
11.  45-53:— 

O  God !  that  one  might  read  the  book  of  fate 

And  fee  the  revolution  of  the  times 

Make  mountains  level,  and  the  continent. 

Weary  of  f olid  firmnefs,  melt  itfelf 

Into  the  fea  !  and,  other  times,  to  fee 

The  beachy  girdle  of  the  ocean 

Too  wide  for  Neptune's  hips. 

The  king  goes  on  to  meditate  on  the  *  interchange 
of  ftate '  in  his  time  in  England. 

13.  Which  cannot  choofe ;  this  thought,  which 
cannot  choofe,  etc.,  is  as  a  death. 

LXV.  In  clofe  connexion  with  LXIV.  The  firft 
line  enumerates  the  *conquefts  of  time  recorded  in 
LXIV.  1-8. 

3.   This  rage.     Malone  propofed  *  his  rage'. 
18 


196  NOTES. 

4.  Aftion.  Is  this  word  ufed  here  in  a  legal 
fenfe?  fuggefted  perhaps  by  *  hold  a  plea'  of  1.  3. 

6.   Wreckful  fiege.     See  Sonnet  LXIII.  9,  and  note. 

i  o.  Time's  cheft.  Theobald  propofed  '  Time's 
quefl '.  Malone  mows  that  the  image  of  a  jewel  in 
its  cheft  or  cafket  is  a  favourite  one  with  Shakfpere. 
See  Sonnet  XLVIIL,  King  Richard  n.,  A&  I.  fc.  i, 
1.  1 80  ;  King  John,  Act  v.  fc.  i,  1.  40. 

12.  Of  beauty.  The  Quarto  has  or,  a  manifefl 
error. 

LXVI.  From  the  thought  of  his  friend's  death 
Shakfpere  turns  to  think  of  his  own,  and  of  the  ills 
of  life  from  which  death  would  deliver  him. 

i.  All  tbefe.  The  evils  enumerated  in  the 
following  lines. 

4.  Unhappily,  evilly.  See  in  Schmidt's  Shake- 
fpeare-Lexicon  the  words,  unhappied,  unhappily, 
unhappinefs,  and  unhappy. 

9.  Art  made  tongue-tied  by  authority ;  art  is 
commonly  ufed  by  Shakfpere  for  letters,  learning, 
fcience.  Can  this  line  refer  to  the  cenforfhip  of 
the  ftage  ? 

1 1 .  Simplicity,  i.e.  in  the  fenfe  of  folly. 

LXVII.  In  clofe  connexion  with  LXVI.  Why 
fhould  my  friend  continue  to  live  in  this  evil  world  ? 

4.  Lace,  embellifh,  as  in  Macbeth,  Ad  n.  fc.  3, 
1.  118. 

6.  Dead  feeing.  Why  fhould  painting  fteal  the 
lifelefs  appearance  of  beauty  from  his  living  hue? 
Capell  and  Farmer  con]Qd.uj:Q  feeming. 


NOTES.  197 

12.  Proud  of  many  lives,  etc.     Nature,  while  (he 
boafts  of  many  beautiful   perfons,   really   has    no 
treafure  of  beauty  except  his. 

13.  Stores.     See  note  on  Sonnet  XL  9. 

LXVIII.  Carries  on  the  thought  of  LXVIL  13, 
1 4  ;  compare  the  laft  two  lines  of  both  fonnets. 

i.  Map  of  days  out-worn,  compare  Lucrece, 
1.  1 3  50,  *  this  pattern  of  the  worn-out  age'.  *  Map', 
a  picture  or  outline.  King  Richard  IL,  Acl:  v.  fc.  I, 
1.  12,'  Thou  map  of  honour '. 

3.  Fair,  beauty. 

Born.  The  Quarto  prints  borne,  and  fo  Malone. 
But  the  Quarto  borne  probably  is  our  born,  the  word 
*  baftard  '  fuggefting  the  idea  of  birth. 

5,  6.  Malone  notes  that  Shakfpere  has  inveighed 
againft  the  practice  of  wearing  falfe  hair  in  The 
Merchant  of  Venice,  Ad  in.  fc.  2,  11.  92-96,  and 
again  in  Timon  of  Athens,  Ad  IV.  fc.  3,  1.  144. 

10.  Without  all  ornament,  all,  i.e.  any,  as  Sonnet 
LXXIV.  2,  '  without  all  bail '. 

Itfelf.     Malone  propofed  himfelf. 

LXIX.  From  the  thought  of  his  friend's  external 
beauty  Shakfpere  turns  to  think  of  the  beauty  of  his 
mind,  and  the  popular  report  againft  it. 

3.  Due.  The  Quarto  has  end,  which,  Malone 
obferves,  arofe  from  the  printer  tranfpofmg  the 
letters  of  due,  and  inverting  the  u ;  but  more  pro- 
bably the  printer's  eye  caught  the  end  of  '  mend ' 
1.  2,  and  his  fingers  repeated  it  in  the  next  line. 

5.   Thy  outward.     The  Quarto  has    Their  out- 


198  NOTES. 

ward;  Malone  read  Thine,  but  thy  is  fometimes 
found  before  a  vowel,  and  the  miftake  '  their '  for 
*  thy  '  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Quarto. 

14.  The  foil  is  this.  The  Quarto  has  folye. 
Malone  and  Dyce  read  folve.  Caldecott  conjectures 
foil.  The  Cambridge  editors  write  :  *  As  the  verb 
"  to  foil"  is  not  uncommon  in  Old  Eriglifh,  meaning 
"  to  folve  ",  as  for  example  :  "  This  queftion  could 
not  one  of  them  all  foile"  (UdaVs  Erafmus,  Luke, 
fol.  1 34  £),  fo  the  fubftantive  "  foil "  may  be  ufed  in 
the  fenfe  of  "folution".  The  play  upon  words 
thus  fuggefted  is  in  the  author's  manner '. 

LXX.  Continues  the  fubjeft  of  the  laft  Sonnet, 
and  defends  his  friend  from  the  fufpicion  and  flander 
of  the  time. 

3 .  Sufpeft,  fufpicion,  as  in  1.  13,  and  Venus  & 
Adonis,  1.  i  o  i  o. 

6.   Thy  worth.     The  Quarto  has  their. 

Being  woo'd  of  time.  *  Time  is  ufed  by  our  early 
writers  as  equivalent  to  the  modern  expreflion, 
the  times'. — Hunter,  New  Illujlrations  of  Shake- 
fpearef\o\.  ii.  p.  240.  Hunter  quotes  King  Richard  in., 
Ad  iv.  fc.  4,  1.  1 06,  where,  however,  the  propofed 
meaning  feems  doubtful.  Steevens  quotes  from 
Ben  Jonfon,  Every  Man  out  of  His  Humour,  Prologue, 
'  Oh,  how  I  hate  the  monftroufnefs  of  time,3  i.e. 
the  times.  *  Being  woo'd  of  time  '  feems,  then,  to 
mean  being  folicited  or  tempted  by  the  prefent  times. 
Malone  conjectured  and  withdrew  *  being  void  of 
crime*.  C.  [probably  Capell]  fuggefted  *  being  wood 
of  time/  i.e.  flander  being  wood  or  frantic.  Delius 


NOTES.  199 

propofes  *  weighed  of  time  *,  Staunton,  *  being  woo'd 
of  crime  *. 

7.  For  canker  vice,  etc.  So  The  Two  Gentlemen 
of  Verona,  Ad  I.  fc.  i,  1.  43  :  — 

In  the  fweeteft  bud 
The  eating  canker  dwells. 

14.   Owe,  own,  poffefs. 

LXXI.  Shakfpere  goes  back  to  the  thought  of 
his  own  death,  from  which  he  was  led  away  by 
LXVI.  14,  '  to  die,  I  leave  my  love  alone '.  The 
world  in  this  fonnet  is  the  '  vile  world '  defcribed 
in  LXVI. 

2.  The  furly  fullen  lell.  Compare  2  King 
Henry  iv.,  Ad  I.  fc.  i,  1.  102  : — 

A  fullen  bell, 
Remembered  knolling  a  departed  friend. 

10.  Compounded  am  with  clay.  2  King  Henry  IV., 
Ad  IV.  fc.  5,  1.  116:— 

Only  compound  me  with  forgotten  duft. 

LXXII.  In  clofe  continuation  of  LXXI.  *  When  I 
die  let  my  memory  die  with  me*. 

LXXIII.  Still,  as  in  LXXI.-LXXII.  thoughts  of 
approaching  death. 

2.  Compare  Macbeth,  Ad  v.  fc.  3,  1.  23  : — 

My  way  of  life 
Is  falVn  into  the  fearf  the  yellow  leaf. 


200  NOTES. 

3 .  Bare  ruin'd  choirs.  The  Quarto  has  '  rn'wd 
quiers '.  The  edition  of  1 640  made  the  corre&ion. 
Capell  propofed  '  Barren'd  of  quires '.  Malone 
compares  with  this  paflage  Cymbeline,  A&  m.  fc.  3, 
11.  60-64  :— 

'Then  was  I  as  a  tree 

Whofe  boughs  did  lend  with  fruit :  but  in  one  night, 
A  Jlorm  or  robbery,  call  it  what  you  will, 
Shook  down  my  mellow  hangings,  nay,  my  leaves, 
And  left  me  bare  to  weather  ; 

and  Timon  of  Athens,  A&  iv.  fc.  3,  11.  263-266. 

7.  So  in  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  A6t  I. 
fc.  3,  1.  87  :- 

And  by  and  by  a  cloud  takes  all  away. 

12.  Conj "timed,  etc.  Wafting  away  on  the  dead 
afhes  which  once  nourifhed  it  with  living  flame. 

LXXIV.  In  immediate  continuation  of  LXXIII. 
1,2.  The  Quarto  has  no  flop  after  contented. 
That  fell  arrejl.     So  Hamlet,  Ad  v.  fc.  2,  11.  347, 
348:- 

Had  I  but  time — as  this  fetyfergeant,  death, 
Is  Jlricl  in  his  arreft. 

1 1 .  The  coward  conqueft,  etc.  Does  Shakfpere 
merely  fpeak  of  the  liability  of  the  body  to  untimely 
or  violent  mifchance?  Or  does  he  meditate  fuicide? 
Or  think  of  Marlowe's  death,  and  anticipate  fuch  a 
fate  as  poffibly  his  own  ?  Or  has  he,  like  Marlowe, 
been  wounded  ?  Or  does  he  refer  to  diffedion  of  dead 


NOTES.  201 

bodies  ?  Or  is  it  *  Confounding  age's  cruel  knife '  of 
LXIII.  1.  10? 

13,  14.    The  worthy  etc.     The  worth  of  that  (my 
body)  is  that  which  it  contains  (my  fpirit),  and  that 
(my  fpirit)  is  this  (my  poems). 

LXXV.  The  laft  Sonnet,  LXXIV.,  feems  to  me  like 
an  Envoy,  and  perhaps  a  new  manufcript  book  of 
Sonnets  begins  with  LXXV.-LXXVII. 

3.  And  for  the  peace  of  you,  the  peace,  content,  to 
be  found  in  you ;  antithefis  to  Jlrife. 

Doubting  the  filching  age,  etc.  Perhaps  this  is  the 
firft  allufion  to  the  poet,  Shakfpere's  rival  in  his 
friend's  favour. 

8.  Better' d.     H.  Ifaac  propofes  letter. 

10.  Clean  Jlarved  for  a  look.     See  -Sonnet  XLVII. 
3,  and  note. 

11,  12.  Poffeffing  no  delight  fave  what  is  had  from 
you,  purfuing  none  fave  what  muft  be  taken  from 
you. 

14.  'That  is,  either  feeding  on  various  difhes,  or 
having  nothing  on  my  board, — all  being  away\  — 
MALONE. 

LXXVI.  Is  this  an  apology  for  Shakfpere's  own 
Sonnets — of  which  his  friend  begins  to  weary — in 
contraft  with  the  verfes  of  the  rival  poet,-fpoken  of 
in  LXXVIIL-LXXX.  ? 

6.  Keep  invention  in  a  noted  weed,  keep  imagina- 
tion, or  poetic  creation,  in  a  drefs  which  is  obferved 
and  known. 

7.  Tell.     The  Quarto  has  fel. 

8.  Where.     Capell  propofed  whence. 


202  NOTES. 

LXXVII.  '  Probably ',  fays  Steevens,  <  this  fonnet 
was  defigned  to  accompany  a  prefent  of  a  book 
confirming  of  blank  paper '.  *  This  conjecture ',  fays 
Malone,  *  appears  to  me  extremely  probable '.  If 
I  might  hazard  a  conjecture,  it  would  be  that  Shak- 
fpere,  who  had  perhaps  begun  a  new  manufcript- 
book  witn  Sonnet  LXXV.,  and  who,  as  I  fuppofe, 
apologized  for  the  monotony  of  his  verfes  in  LXXVL, 
here  ceafed  to  write,  knowing  that  his  friend  was 
favouring  a  rival,  and  invited  his  friend  to  fill  up  the 
blank  pages  himfelf  (fee  note  below;  1.  12).  Beauty, 
Time,  and  Verfe  formed  the  theme  of  many  of  Shak- 
fpere's  fonnets ;  now  that  he  will  write  no  more, 
he  commends  his  friend  to  his  glafs,  where  he  may 
difcover  the  truth  about  his  beauty;  to  the  dial, 
where  he  may  learn  the  progrefs  of  time ;  and  to 
this  book,  which  he  himfelf — not  Shakfpere — muft 
fill.  C.  A.  Brown  and  Henry  Brown  treat  this 
fonnet  as  an  Envoy. 

4.   This  book.     Malone  propofed  '  thy  book '. 

6.  Mouthed  graves.  So  Venus  &  Adonis,  1.  757, 
*  A  fwallowing  grave '. 

10.  Blanks.  The  Quarto  has  Hacks:  the 
correction  is  from  Theobald. 

12.  Perhaps  this  is  faid  with  fome  feeling  of 
wounded  love — my  verfes  have  grown  monotonous 
and  wearifome;  write  yourfelf,  and  you  will  find 
novelty  in  your  own  thoughts  when  once  delivered 
from  your  brain  and  fet  down  by  your  pen.  Per- 
haps, alfo,  '  this  learning  mayft  thou  tafte ',  1.  4,  is 
fuggefted  by  the  fact  that  Shakfpere  is  unlearned  in 
comparifon  with  the  rival.  I  cannot  bring  you 


NOTES.  203 

learning ;    but  fet  down  your  own  thoughts,  and 
you  will  find  learning  in  them. 

LXXVIII.  Shakfpere,  I  fuppofe,  receives  fome 
renewed  profeflion  of  love  from  his  friend,  and 
again  addreffes  him  in  verfe,  openly  fpeaking  of  the 
caufe  of  his  eftrangement,  the  favour  with  which 
his  friend  regards  the  rival  poet. 

3.  Got  my  ufe,  acquired  my  habit  [of  writing 
verfe  to  you]. 

6.  Heavy  ignorance.     So  Othello,  Ad  n.  fc.  I, 

1.  144,  '  O  heavy  ignorance  '  / 
Fly.     The  Quarto  has  flee. 

7.  The  I  earners  wing.     Quarto,  learneds.     Com- 
pare Spenfer  Js  Teares  of  the  Mufes : — 

Each  idle  wit  at  will  prefumes  to  make, 

And  doth  the  learneds  ta/k  upon  him  take. — DYCE. 

9.   Compile,  write,  compofe.     So  Sonnet  LXXXV. 

2,  'Comments    of  your   praife,   richly  compiled'; 
Love's  Labour's  Loft,  Ad  rv.  fc.  3,  1.  134. 

12.  Arts,  learning,  fcholarfhip,   Love's  Labour's 
Loft,  Ad  2,  fc.  i,  1.  45. 

13.  Advance,  lift  up.     As  in  The  Tempeft,  Ad  I. 
fc.  2,  1.  408  :— 

The  fringed  curtains  of  thine  eyes  advance. 

LXXIX.  In  continuation  of  Sonnet  LXXVIII. 
5.   Thy  lovely  argument,  the  lovely  theme  of  your 
beauty  and  worth. 


204  NOTES. 

LXXX.  Same  fubjed  continued. 

2.  A  letter  fpirit.  For  the  conjectures  made 
with  refped  to  this  '  better  fpirit ',  fee  the  Introduc- 
tion, pages  xxxvi.-xxxix. 

6,  7.  The  humble,  etc.  Compare  Troilus  & 
CreJJida,  Ad  I.  fc.  3,  11.  34-42  :  where 's  then  the 
fancy  boat  ? 

LXXXI.  After  depreciating  his  own  verfe  in 
companion  with  that  of  the  rival  poet,  Shakfpere 
here  takes  heart,  and  afferts  that  he  will  by  verfe 
confer  immortality  on  his  friend,  though  his  own 
name  may  be  forgotten. 

i.  Or  I.  Staunton  propofes  '  Wh'er  I ',  i.e. 
Whether  I. 

12.  Breathers  of  this  world;  this  world,  i.e.  this 
age.  Compare  As  You  Like  It,  Ad  in.  fc.  2, 
1.  297  :  'I  will  chide  no  breather  in  the  world  but 
myfelf'.  Sidney  Walker  propofes  to  point  as 
follows: — 

Shall  o'er-read, 

And  tongues  to  be  your  being  fhall  rehearfe  ; 
When  all  the  breathers  of  this  world  are  dead, 
You  Jlill  flail  live,  etc. 

It  is  rare,  however,  with  Shakfpere  to  let  the 
verfe  run  on  without  a  paufe  at  the  twelfth  line  of 
the  fonnet. 

LXXXIL  His  friend  had  perhaps  alleged  in  play- 
ful felf-juftification  that  he  had  not  married  Shakfpere's 
Mufe,  vowing  to  forfake  all  other  and  keep  him  only 
unto  her. 


NOTES.  205 

3.  Dedicated  words.  This  may  only  mean  de- 
voted words,  but  probably  has  reference,  as  the  next 
line  feems  to  fhow,  to  the  words  of  fome  dedication 
prefixed  to  a  book. 

5.  TJjou  art  as  fair  in  knowledge  as  in  hue. 
Shakfpere  had  celebrated  his  friend's  beauty  (hue)  ; 
perhaps  his  learned  rival  had  celebrated  the  patron's 
knowledge;  fuch  excellence  reached  'a  limit  paft 
the  praife '  of  Shakfpere,  who  knew  fmall  Latin  and 
lefs  Greek. 

1 1 .  Sympathy *d,  anfwered  to,   tallied.     So  Lu- 
crece,  1.  1113  :  — 

True  for  row  then  is  feelingly  fufficed 

When  with  like  femblance  it  is  fympathized. 

LXXXIII.  Takes  up  the  laft  lines  of  LXXXII.  and 
continues  the  fame  theme. 

2.  Fair,  beauty. 

5.  Slept  in  your  report,  negle&ed  to  found  your 
praifes. 

7.  Modern,  trite,  ordinary,  common.     So  Antony 
&  Cleopatra,  Ad  v.  fc.  2,  1.  167. 

8.  What  worth.     Malone  fuggefted  '  that  worth  '. 

12.  Bring  a  tomb.     Compare  Sonnet  xvn.  3. 

LXXXIV.  Continues  the  fame  theme.  Which 
of  us,  the  rival  poet  or  I,  can  fay  more  than  that 
you  are  you  ? 

i,  4.  Staunton  propofes  to  omit  the  note  of  in- 
terrogation after  mojl  (1.  i)  and  to  introduce  one 
after  grew  (1.  4). 


206  NOTES. 

8.  Story.  W.  S.  Walker  propofes  to  retain  the 
period  of  the  Quarto  after  Jlory — perhaps  rightly. 

14.  Being  fond  on  praife,  doting  on  praife.  A 
Midfummer  Night's  Dream,  Aft  n.  fc.  I,  1.  266 :  — 

That  he  may  prove 

More  fond  on  her  than  Jhe  upon  her  love. 
Palgrave  has  *  of  praife'. 

LXXXV.  Continues  the  fubjeft  of  LXXXIV.  Shak- 
fpere's  friend  is  fond  on  praife ;  Shakfpere's  Mufe  is 
filent  while  others  compile  comments  of  his  praife. 

1 .  My  tongue-tied  Mufe.   Compare  Sonnet  LXXX.  4. 

2.  Compiled.     See  note  on  Sonnet  LXXVIII.  9. 

3 .  Referve  their  char  after.     Referve  has  here,  fays 
Malone,  the  fenfe  of  preferve ;  fee  Sonnet  xxxn.  7. 
But  what  does   'preferve  their  character '  mean? 
An  anonymous  emender  fuggefts  '  Rehearfe  thy ',  or 
'  Rehearfe  your '.     Pombly  '  Deferve  their  character  ' 
may  be  right,  i.e.  '  deferve  to  be  written'. 

4.  Filed,  polifhed,  refined   (as  if  rubbed  with  a 
file).      Love's  Labour's  Loft,  A&  v.  fc.   i,  1.   n, 
'  his  tongue  filed  '.     See  note  on  Sonnet  LXXXVI.  1 3. 

1 1 .  But  that,  i.e.  that  which  I  add. 

LXXXVI.  Continues  the  fubjeft  of  LXXXV.,  and 
explains  the  caufe  of  Shakfpere's  filence. 

i .  Proud  full  fail.  The  fame  metaphor  which 
appears  in  Sonnet  LXXX. 

4.  Making  their  tonib  the  womb,  etc.  So  Romeo 
6-  Juliet,  Ad  n.  fc.  3,  1.  9  :  — 

The  earth  that's  nature's  mother  is  her  tomb ; 
What  is  her  burying  grave  that  is  her  womb. 


NOTES.  207 

5-10.  See  Introduction,  pages  xxxvii.-xxxix. 

8.  AJloniJfrd,  ftunned  as  by  a  thunder-ftroke,  as 
in  Lucrece,  1.  1730. 

1  3  .  FilVd  up  Ms  line.  Malone,  Steevens,  Dyce, 
read  fiVd,  i.e.  polifhed.  Steevens  quotes  Ben 
Jonlbn's  Verfes  on  Shakefpeare  : 

In  his  well-torned  and  true-filed  lines. 

But  '  fill'd  up  his  line  '  is  oppofed  to  '  then  lack'd  I 
matter  '.  Filed  in  LXXXV.  4,  is  printed  in  the 
Quarto  _/*/'d;  filled  is  printed  xvn.  2  ;  LXIII.  3,  as  it 
is  in  this 


LXXXVII.  Increafmg  coldnefs  on  his  friend's 
part  brings  Shakfpere  to  the  point  of  declaring  that 
all  is  over  between  them.  This  fonnet  in  form  is 
diftinguimed  by  double-rhymes  throughout. 

4.  Determinate,  limited  ;  or  out  of  date,  expired. 
'The  term  is  ufed  in  legal  conveyances  '.  —  MALONE. 

8.  Patent,  privilege.  As  in  A  Midfummer  Night's 
Dream,  Ad  I.  fc.  I,  1.  80,  *my  virgin  patent*. 

1  1  .  Upon  mifprifwn  growing,  a  miftake  having 
arifen.  i  King  Henry  rv.,  Act  I.  fc.  3,  1.  27, 
'  mifprifion  is  guilty  of  this  fault  '. 

1  3  .  As  fome  dream  doth  flatter.  So  Romeo  & 
Juliet,  Aft  v.  fc.  I,  11.  i,  2  :  — 

If  I  may  trujl  the  flattering  truth  of  Jleep, 
My  dreams  prefage  fome  joyful  news  at  hand. 

LXXXVIII.  In  continuation.  Shakfpere  ftill 
afferts  his  own  devotion,  though  his  unfaithful 


208  NOTES. 

friend  not  only  fhould  forfake  him,  but  even  hold 
him  in  fcorn. 

i.  Set  me  light,  efteem  me  little.  So  King 
Richard  IL,  Aft  I.  fc.  3,  1.  293. 

8.  Shalt.     Quarto,  flail. 

LXXXIX.  Continues  the  fubjeft  of  LXXXVIIL, 
fhowing  how  Shakfpere  will  take  part  with  his 
friend  againft  himfelf. 

3.  My  lamenefs.     See  note  on  Sonnet  xxxvu.  3. 

6.  Tofet  a  form,  etc.,  to  give  a  becoming  appear- 
ance to  the  change  which  you  defire.  So  A  Mid- 
fummer  Night's  Dream,  Aft  I.  fc.  i,  1.  233  :  — 

Things  lafe  and,  vile,  holding  no  quantity. 
Love  can  tranfpofe  to  form  and  dignity. 

8.  /  will  acquaintance  Jlr angle,  put  an  end  to  our 
familiarity.  So  Twelfth  Night,  Aft  v.  fc.  i ,  1.  150; 
Antony  &  Cleopatra,  Aft  n.  fc.  6,  1.  130:  'You 
fhall  find,  the  band  that  feems  to  tie  their  friendfhip 
together  will  be  the  very  Jlr  angler  of  their  amity*. 

13.  Debate,  cont§ ft,  quarrel.  2  King  Henry  iv., 
Aft  iv.  fc.  4,  1.  2  :  *  this  debate  that  bleedeth  at  our 
door '. 

XC.  Takes  up  the  laft  word  of  LXXXIX.,  and 
pleads  pathetically  for  hatred;  for  the  worft,  fpeedily, 
if  at  all. 

6.  The  rearward  of  a  conquered  woe.  Much  Ado 
About  Nothing,  Aft  iv.  fc.  i,  1.  128  :  — 

Thought  I  thy  fpirit  were  Jlronger  than  thy  fhames, 
Myfelf  would,  on  the  rearward  of  reproaches., 
1     Strike  at  thy  life. 


NOTES.  209 

13.  Strains  of  woe.  So  Much  Ado  About  Nothing, 
Aft  v.  fc.  i,  1.  12:— 

Meafure  Ins  woe  the  length  and  breadth  of  mine 
And  let  it  anfwer  every  drain  for  ftrain. 

XCI.  Having  in  xc.  thought  of  his  own  perfecu- 
tion  at  the  hand  of  Fortune,  Shakfpere  here  contrafts 
his  ftate  with  that  of  the  favorites  of  Fortune,  main- 
taining that  if  he  had  but  allured  pofleffion  of  his 
friend's  love,  he  would  lack  none  of  their  good 
things. 

4.  Horfe.  Probably  the  plural,  meaning  horfes, 
as  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Induction,  1.  61. 
I  King  Henry  vi.,  Aft  I.  fc.  5,  1.  3  I. 

10.  Richer  than  wealth,  prouder  than  garments' 
cojl.     So  Cymbeline,  Aft  m.  fc.  3,  11.  23,  24  :  — 
Richer  than  doing  nothing  for  a  bauble, 
Prouder  than  rujlling  in  unpaid-for  filk. 

XCII.  In  clofe  connexion  with  xci.  This  fonnet 
argues  for  the  contradictory  of  the  laft  two  lines 
of  that  immediately  preceding  it.  No  :  you  cannot 
make  me  wretched  by  taking  away  your  love,  for 
with  fuch  a  lofs,  death  muft  come  and  free  me  from 
forrow. 

10.  My  life  on  thy  revolt  doth  lie,  my  life  hangs 
upon,  is  dependent  on,  your  defertion,  Macbeth,  Aft  v. 
fc.  4,  1.  12  :  — 

Both  more  and  lefs  have  given  him  the  revolt, 
-  And  none  ferve  with  him  but  conflrained  things 
Whofe  hearts  are  abfent  too. 

Compare  Sonnet  xcm.  4. 


210  NOTES. 

XCIII.  Carries  on  the  thought  of  the  laft  line  of 

XCII. 

n,  12.  So  Macbeth,  A<5t  I.  fc.  4,  1.  12  :  — 

There  *s  no  art 
To  find  the  mind's  conftruftion  in  the  face. 

XCIV.  In  XGIII.  Shakfpere  has  defcribed  his  friend 
as  able  to  (how  a  fweet  face  while  harbouring  falfe 
thoughts ;  the  fubject  is  enlarged  on  in  the  prefent 
Sonnet.  They  who  can  hold  their  paffions  in 
check,  who  can  feem  loving  yet  keep  a  cool  heart, 
who  move  paffion  in  others,  yet  are  cold  and 
unmoved  themfelves— fhey  rightly  inherit  from 
heaven  large  gifts,  for  they  hufband  them ;  where- 
as paflionate  intemperate  natures  fquander  their 
endowments ;  thofe  who  can  affume  this  or  that 
femblance  as  they  fee  reafon  are  the  matters  and 
owners  of  their  faces ;  others  have  no  property  in 
fuch  excellences  as  they  poflefs,  but  hold  them 
for  the  advantage  of  the  prudent  felf-contained 
perfons.  True,  thefe  felf-contained  perfons  may 
feem  to  lack  generofity ;  but,  then,  without  mak- 
ing voluntary  gifts  they  give  inevitably,  even  as  the 
fummer's  flower  is  fweet  to  the  fummer,  though 
it  live  and  die  only  to  itfelf.  Yet,  let  fuch  an  one 
beware  of  corruption,  which  makes  odious  the 
fweeteft  flowers. 

6.  Expenfe,  expenditure,  and  fo  lofs. 

1 1 .  Safe.     Staunton  propofes  foul. 

12.  The  lafefl  weed.      Sidney  Walker  propofes 
<  the  "bar eft  weed '. 


NOTES.  in 

14.  Lilies,  etc.  This  line  occurs  in  King  Ed- 
ward in.,  A&.  ii.  fc.  I  (near  the  clofe  of  the  fcene). 
I  quote  the  paffage  that  the  reader  may  fee  how  the 
line  comes  into  the  play,  and  form  an  opinion  as  to 
whether  play  or  fonnet  has  the  right  of  firft  owner- 
fhip  in  it. 

±A  fpacious  field  of  reafons  could  I  urge 
Between  Ms  glory,  daughter,  and  thy  Jhame  : 
That  poifon  flows  worft  in  a  golden  cup ; 
Dark  night  feems  darker  by  the  lightning  flafh  ; 
Lilies,  that  fejler,  fmell  far  worfe  than  weeds  ; 
And  every  glory,  that  inclines  to  fin, 
The  fame  is  treble  by  the  oppojite. 

It  fliould  be  remembered  that  feveral  critics  aflign 
to  Shakfpere  a  portion  of  this  play,  which  was  firft 
printed  in  1596.  In  a  fcene  afcribed  to  Shakfpere 
occur  the  lines  which  have  been  quoted. 

Fejler,  rot.     As  in  Romeo  &  Juliet,  Ad  iv.  fc.  3, 

1.43. 

XCV.  Continues  the  warning  of  xciv.  13,  14. 
Though  now  you  feem  to  make  (hame  beautiful, 
beware !  a  time  will  come  when  it  may  be  other- 
wife. 

8.  Naming  thy  name  bleffes,  etc.  Antony  & 
Cleopatra,  Ad  n.  fc.  2,  11.  243-245  :— 

Vilejl  things 

Become  themf elves  in  her ;  that  the  holy  priefls 
Blefs  her  when  fhe  is  riggifh. 
19 


212  NOTES. 

XCVI.  Continues  the  fubjed  of  xcv.  Pleads 
againft  the  mifufe  of  his  friend's  gifts  ;  againft  youth- 
ful licentioufnefs. 

2.  Gentle  f port.     As  in  the  laft  fonnet  *  making 
lafcivious  comments  on  thy  fport\ 

3.  More  and  lefs,  great  and  fniall,  as  in  i  King" 
Henry  iv.,  Ad  iv.  fc.  3,  1.  68  :— 

The  more  and  lefs  came  in  with  cap  and  knee. 

9,  10.  The  fame  thought  expreffed  in  different 
imagery  appears  in  xcm. 

Tranjlate,  tranfform ;  as  in  Hamlet,  Ad  in.  fc.  I , 
1.  113. 

12.  The  flrength  of  all  thy  Jl ate,  the  ftrength  of 
all  thy  majefty,   fplendour.       Schmidt   fays   'ufed 
periphraftically,  and  =  all  thy  ftrength'. 

13,  14.  The  fame  couplet  clofes  Sonnet  xxxvi. 

XCVII.  A  new  group  of  Sonnets  feems  to  begin 
here. 

5 .  Tins  time  removed.      This  time  of  abfence. 
Twelfth    Night,   Ad  v.   fc.    i,   1.    92,    'A   twenty 
years  removed  thing'. 

6.  The  teeming   autumn,  etc.     So  A  Midfummer 
Night's  Dream,  Ad  n.   fc.   i,   11.    111-114,  'The 
childing  autumn'.      Ifaac  propofes  Then  teeming. 

7.  Prime,  fpring. 

I  o.  Hope  of  orphans,  fuch  hope  as  orphans  bring ; 
or,  expectation  of  the  birth  of  children  whofe  father 
is  dead.  Staunton  propofes  '  crop  of  orphans  '. 

XCVIII.  The   fubjed   of  xcvu.   is  Abfence  in 


NOTES.  213 

Summer    and   Autumn;   the  fubject  of  xcvm.-ix. 
Abfence  in  Spring. 

2,  3.  Proud-pied  April,  etc.  So  Romeo  &  Juliet, 
Ad  I.  fc.  2,  1.  27  :  — 

Such  comfort  as  do  lujly  young  men  feel 
When  well-apparell'd  April  on  the  heel 
Of  limping  winter  treads. 

4.   That.     So  that. 

7.  Summer's  ftory.     'By  a  fummer's  flory  Shak- 
fpeare  feems  to  have  meant  fome  gay  fiction.     Thus, 
his  comedy  founded  on  the  adventures  of  the  king 
and   queen  of  the   fairies,   he   calls  A  Midfummer 
Night's  Dream.     On  the  other  hand,  in  The  Win- 
ter's Tale  he  tells  us,  "  a.  fad  tale's  beft  for  winter". 
So  alfo  in  Cymbeline,  Ad  m.  fc.  4,  11.  12-14 :  — 

— if  it  be  fummer  news, 
Smile  to  it  before :  if  winterly  f  thou  need' ft 
But  keep  that  countenance  ftill' .  MALONE. 

8.  The  lily's  white.     The  Quarto  has  lilies;  fo 
Malone  and  other  editors. 

1 1 .  They  were  but  fweet.  Malone  propofed  '  they 
were,  my  fweet,  but,  etc.'  The  poet  declares,  as 
Steevens  fays,  that  the  flowers  '  are  only  fweet,  only 
delightful,  fo  far  as  they  refemble  his  friend '. 
Lettfom  propofes,  '  They  were  but  fleeting  figures 
of  delight '. 

XCIX.  In  connexion  with  the  laft  line  of  Sonnet 
XGVIII.  The  prefent  fonnet  has  fifteen  lines. 


214  NOTES. 

6.  Condemned  for  thy  hand,  condemned  for  theft 
of  the  whitenefs  of  thy  hand. 

7.  And  buds  of  marjoram,  etc.    Compare  Suckling's 
Tragedy  of  Brennoralt,  Ad  iv.  fc.  I  :  — 

Hair  curling,  and  cover' d  like  buds  of  marjoram  ; 
Part  tied  in  negligence,  part  loofely  flowing. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Hart  tells  me  that  buds  of  marjoram 
are  dark  purple-red  before  they  open,  and  afterwards 
pink;  dark  auburn  I  fuppofe  would  be  the  neareft 
approach  to  marjoram  in  the  colour  of  hair.  Mr. 
Hart  fuggefts  that  the  marjoram  has  flolen  not 
colour  but  perfume  from  the  young  man's  hair. 
Gervafe  Markham  gives  fweet  marjoram  as  an 
ingredient  in  *  The  water  of  fweet  fmells',  and 
Culpepper  fays  *  marjoram  is  much  ufed  in  all 
odoriferous  waters '.  Cole  {Adam  in  Eden,  ed. 
1657)  fays  * Marjerome  is  a  chief  ingredient  in 
molt  of  thofe  powders  that  Barbers  ufe,  in  whofe 
ftiops  I  have  feen  great  ftore  of  this  herb  hung  up'. 

8.  On  thorns  did  Jland.     To  'ftand  on  thorns'  is 
an  old  proverbial  phrafe. 

9.  One.     The  Quarto  has  *  our  '. 

12.  A  vengeful  canker  eat  him,  etc.  So  Venus  & 
Adonis ,  1.  656  : — 

This  canker  that  eats  up  Love's  tender  fpring. 
14.  But  fweet.     Sidney  Walker  proposes  f cent. 

C.  Written  after  a  ceflation  fron*  fonnet-writing, 
during  which  Shakfpere  had  been  engaged  in  author- 


NOTES.  215 

{hip, — writing  plays  for  the  public  as  I  fuppofe,  in- 
ftead  of  poems  for  his  friend. 

3.  Fury,  poetic  enthufiafm,  as  in  Love's  Labour's 
Loft,  Ad  iv.  fc.  3,  1.  229. 

9.  Rejly,  torpid ;  *  Refty,  piger,  hntus  \  Coles's 
Latin  and  Englijh  Dictionary  (quoted  by  Dyce). 

1 1 .  Satire.  *  Satire  is  fatirijl.  Jonfon,  Mafque 
of  Time  Vindicated ,  Gifford,  vol.  viii.  p.  5  : — 

Who's  this  ? 

EARS.  *Tis  Chronomaftixf  ihe  brave  fatyr. 

NOSE.     The  gentleman-like  fatyr f  cares  for  nobody. 

Poetajler,  V.  i,  vol.  ii.  p.  524  :  — 

The  honeft  fatyr  hath  the  happieft  foul'. 

W.  S.  WALKER. 
14.   Prevent' ft,  doft  fruftrate  by  anticipating. 

CI.  Continues  the  addrefs  to  his  mufe,  calling 
on  her  to  fmg  again  the  praifes  of  his  friend ;  c.  calls 
on  her  to  praife  his  beauty ;  ci.  his  *  truth  in  beauty 
dyed'. 

6.  His  colour,  the  colour  of  my  love  (i.e.  my 
friend). 

7.  To  lay,  to  fpread  on  a  furface,  to  lay  on. 
Twelfth  Night,  Ad  I.  fc.  5,  1.  258  :  — 

'  Tis  beauty  truly  blent,  whofe  red  and  white 
Nature's  own  fweet  and  cunning  hand  laid  on. 

CII.  In  continuation.  An  apology  for  having 
ceafed  to  fmg. 

3.  That  love  is  merchandised,  etc.  So  in  Love's 
Labour's  Loft,  Ad  n.  fc.  i,  11.  13-16: — 


216  NOTES. 

My  beauty,  though  but  mean, 
Needs  not  the  painted  flourifh  of  your  praife : 
Beauty  is  bought  by  judgement  of  the  eyef 
Not  utter* d  by  bafe  fale  of  chapmen's  tongues. 

7.  Summer's  front.     So  A  Winter's  Tale,  Aft  IV. 
fc.  4,  1.  3  :— 

No  Jbepherdefs,  but  Flora 
Peering  in  April's  front. 

8.  Her    pipe.      The    Quarto    has    ' his    pipe'. 
Compare  Twelfth  Night,  Ad  I.  fc.  4,  1.  32. 

GUI.  Continues  the  fame  apology. 
3.   The   argument,  all  bare,  the   theme  of  my 
verfe  merely  as  it  is  in  itfelf.     - 

6,  7.  So  The  Tempeft,  Ad  iv.  fc.  i,  l.'io  :— 

For  thou  fh alt  find  fhe  will  outftrip  all  praife 
And  make  it  halt  behind  her. 

9.  10.  So  King  Lear,  Ad  I.  fc.  4,  1.  369  :  — 
Striving  to  better,  oft  we  mar  what's  well, 

and  King  John,  A6t  iv.  fc.  2,  11.  28,  29. 

CIV.  Refumes  the  fubjeft  from  which  the  poet 
darted  in  Sonnet  c.  After  abfence  and  ceflation 
from  fong,  he  refurveys  his  friend's  face,  and 
inquires  whether  Time  has  ftolen  away  any  of  its 
beauty.  Note  the  important  reference  to  time, 
three  years  *  fmce  firft  I  faw  you  frefh'. 

2.  Eyed.  So  in  The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen,  'I  ear'd 
her  language*. 


NOTES.  217 

3 .  Three  winters  cold.    Dyce  reads  c  winters1  cold '. 
The    Quarto   in    3,    4,    has    *  Winters    cold  .   .  . 
fummers  pride'. 

4.  Three  fummers'  pride.     So  Romeo  '&  Juliet, 
Act  i.  fc.  2,  1.  10  :  — 

Z,e/  two  more  fummers  wither  in  their  pride. 

10.  Steal  from  his  figure,  creep  from  the  figure 
on  the  dial.  So  in  Sonnet  LXXVIL,  '  thy  dial's  fhady 
Jlealth*. 

13.  For  fear  of  which,  becaufe  I  fear  which. 

CV.  To  the  beauty  praifed  in  c.,  and  the  truth 
and  beauty  in  ci.,  Shakfpere  now  adds  a  third 
perfection,  kindnefs ;  and  thefe  three  fum  up  the 
perfections  of  his  friend. 

i,  4.  Let  not  my  love,  etc.  l  Becaufe  the  continual 
repetition  of  the  fame  praifes  feemed  like  a  form  of 
worfhip'.— W.  S.  WALKER.  Cf.  cvm.  1-8. 

CVI.  The  laft  line  of  Sonnet  cv.  declares  that 
his  friend's  perfections  were  never  before  poffefled 
by  one  perfon.  This  leads  the  poet  to  gaze  back- 
ward on  the  famous  perfons  of  former  ages,  men 
and  women,  his  friend  being  poffeffor  of  the  united 
perfections  of  both  man  and  woman  (as  in  Sonnets 
xx.  and  LIII). 

8.  Majler,  poffefs,  own  as  a  matter.  So  King 
Henry  v.,  Act  n.  fc.  4,  1.  i  37  :  — 

You'll  find  a  difference 

Between  the  promife  of  his  greener  days 
And  thefe  he  matters  now. 


2i  8  NOTES. 

9.  Compare  Conftable's  Diana : — 

Miracle  of  the  world  I  never  will  deny 
That  former  poets  praife  the  beauty  of  their  days ; 
But  all  thofe  beauties  were  but  figures  of  thy  praife, 
And  all  thofe  poets  did  of  thee  but  prophecy. 

12.  They  had  not  Jkill  enough.  The  Quarto  has 
'  Jlill  enough  '. 

CVII.  Continues  the  celebration  of  his  friend, 
and  rejoices  in  their  reftored  affedion.  Mr.  Mafley 
explains  this  fonnet  as  a  fong  of  triumph  for  the 
death  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  deliverance  of  South- 
ampton from  the  Tower.  Elizabeth  (Cynthia)  is 
the  eclipfed  mortal  moon  of  1.  5  ;  compare  Antony 
&  Cleopatra,  Aft  m.  fc.  13,  1.  153  : — 

Alack,  our  terrene  moon  (Le*  Cleopatra) 
Is  now  eclipfed. 

But  an  earlier  reference  to  a  moon-eclipfe  (xxxv. 
1.  3)  has  to  do  with  his  friend,  not  with  Elizabeth, 
and  in  the  prefent  fonnet  the  moon  is  imagined  as 
having  endured  her  eclipfe,  and  come  out  none  the 
lefs  bright.  I  interpret  (as  Mr.  Simpfon  does, 
Philofophy  of  Shakfpere's  Sonnets,  p.  79)  :  'Not  my 
own  fears  (that  my  friend's  beauty  may  be  on  the 
wane,  Sonnet  civ.  9-14)  nor  the  prophetic  foul  of 
the  world,  prophefying  in  the  perfons  of  dead 
knights  and  ladies  your  perfections  (Sonnet  cvi.), 
and  fo  prefiguring  your  death,  can  confine  my 
Jeafe  of  love  to  a  brief  term  of  years.  Darknefs  and 
fears  are  paft,  the  augurs  of  ill  find  their  predictions 


falfified,  doubts  are  over,  peace  has  come  in  place 
of  ftrife ;  the  love  in  my  heart  is  frefti  and  young 
(fee  cvin.  1.  9),  and  I  have  conquered  Death,  for  in 
this  verfe  we  both  Ihall  find  life  in  the  memories 
of  men. 

4.  Suppofed,  etc.,  fuppofed  to  be  a  leafe  expiring 
within  a  limited  term. 

10.  My  love  looks  frejh.  I  am  not  fure  whether 
this  means  '  the  love  in  my  heart',  or  *my  love1 
=  my  friend.  Compare  civ.  1.  8,  and  cvm.  1.  9. 

Subfcribes,  fubmits.  As  in  The  Taming  of  the 
Shrew,  Ad.  I.  fc.  i,  1.  Si. 

12.  Infults  o'er,  triumphs  over.  As  in  3  King 
Henry  vi.,  A6t  I.  fc.  3,  1.  14. 

CVIII.  How  can  *  this  poor  rhyme '  which  is  to 
give  us  both  unending  life  (evil.  10-14)  be  carried 
on?  Only  by  faying  over  again  the  fame  old  things. 
But  eternal  love,  in  *  love's  frefh  cafe '  (an  echo  of 
'my  love  looks  frefh',  cvn.  10),  knows  no  age, 
and  finds  what  is  old  ftill  frefh  and  young. 

3.  What  new  to  regifter.  So  Malone.  The 
Quarto  has  *  What  now '.  Sidney  -Walker  con- 
jectures '  what 's  now  to  fpeak,  what  now,  etc/. 

5.  Nothing  fweet  boy.     Altered  in  ed.   1640  to 
*  Nothing  fweet  love*. 

9.  Love's  frefh  cafe,  love's  new  condition  ana 
circumftances,  the  new  youth  of  love  fpoken  of  cvn. 
i  o.  But  Schmidt  explains  *  cafe  '  here  as  *  queftion 
of  law,  caufe,  queftion  in  general ' ;  and  Malone 
fays  <  By  the  cafe  of  love  the  poet  means  his  own 
compofitions '. 


220  NOTES. 

13,  14.  Finding  the  firft  conception  of  love,  i.e. 
love  as   paffionate  as   at    firft,   felt  by  one  whofe 
years  and  outward  form  fhow  the  effects  of  age. 

CIX.  The  firft  ardour  of  love  is  now  renewed  as 
in  the  days  of  early  friendfhip  (cvm.  13,  14). 
But  what  of  the  interval  of  abfence  and  eftrange- 
ment?  Shakfpere  confeffes  his  wanderings,  yet 
declares  that  he  was  never  wholly  falfe. 

2.  Qualify,  temper,  moderate,  as  in  Troilus  & 
Crejjida,  Ad  n.  fc.  2,  1.  118. 

4.  My  foul  which  in  thy  breafl  doth  lie.  So  King 
Richard  m.,  Ad  L  fc.  I,  1.  204  : — 

Even  fo  thy  Ireajl  enclofeth  my  poor  heart. 

7.  Jujl  to  the  time,  not  with  the  time  exchanged, 
pundual  to  the  time,  not  altered  with  the  time.  So 
Jeffica  in  her  boy's  difguife,  Merchant  of  Venice, 
Aft  II.  fc.  $,  1.  35  :— 

I  am  glad  'tis  night,  you  do  not  look  on  me, 
For  I  am  much  afhamed  of  my  exchange. 

1 1 .  Stain' d.     Staunton  propofes  'Jlrain'd '. 

14.  My  rofe.     Shakfpere  returns  to  the  loving 
name  which  he  has  given  his  friend  in  Sonnet  I. 

CX.  In  cix.  Shakfpere  has  fpoken  of  having 
wandered  from  his  *  home  of  love ' ;  here  he  con- 
tinues the  fubjeft,  'Alas,  'tis  true  I  have  gone 
here  and  there '.  This  fonnet  and  the  next  are 
commonly  taken  to  exprefs  diftafte  for  his  life  as  a 
player. 


NOTES.  22.1 

2.  A   motley,    a  wearer    of  motley,   a    fool   or 
jefter. 

3 .  Gored  mine  own  thoughts,  deeply  wounded  my 
own  thoughts.       Troilus  &  CreJJida,  Aft  m.  fc.  3, 
1.  228  :   '  My  fame  is  fhrewdly  £-0ra2 '.     Xm^  Lear, 
Aft  v.  fc.  3, 1.  320. 

4.  Madtf  o/d  offences,  etc.,  entered  into  new  friend- 
fhips  and  loves    which  were  tranfgreflions  againft 
my  old  love. 

6.  Strangely,  in  a  diftant,  miftruftful  way. 

7.  Blenches,  ftarts  afide.      Meafure  for  Meajure, 
Ad  iv.  fc.  5,  1.  5  :— 

Sometimes  you  do  blench  from  this  to  that. 

9.  Now  all  is  donef  have  what  fhall  have  no  end. 
Malone  accepted  Tyrwhitt's  conje&ure,  *  Now  all  is 
done  fave,  etc/;   but  the  meaning  is,  'Now  that 
all  my  wanderings  and  errors  are  over,  take  love 
which  has  no  end '. 

10.  Grind,  i.e.  whet. 

1 1 .  Newer  proof,  newer  trial  or  experiment. 

12.  This  line  feems  to  be  a  reminifcence  of  the 
thoughts  exprefled  in  Sonnet  cv.,  and  to  refer  to 
the  Firft  Commandment. 

CXI.  Continues  tne  apology  for  his  wanderings 
of  heart,  afcribing  them  to  his  ill  fortune — that,  as 
commonly  underftood,  which  compels  him  to  a 
player's  way  of  life. 

I.  With  Fortune.  The  Quarto  has  'wijh 
fortune '. 

10.  Eifel,  'gain/I  my  Jlrong  infection.      Eifel  or 


222  NOTES. 

eyfell  is  vinegar.  O.  Fr.  aijfel,  Gr.  of aAt's.  Skelton 
(quoted  in  Nares's  Gloffary)  fays  of  Jefus — 

He  drank  eifel  and  gall. 

'  Vinegar  is  efteemed  very  efficacious  in  preventing 
the  communication  of  the  plague  and  other  conta- 
gious diftempers'. — MALONE. 

CXII.  Takes  up  the  word  *  pity  V  from  cxi.  14, 
and  declares  that  his  friend's  love  and  pity  compen- 
fate  the  difhonours  of  his  life,  fpoken  of  in  the  laft 
fonnet. 

4.  Allow,  approve,  as  in  King  Lear,  Aft  n.  fc.  4, 
1.  194. 

7,  8.  No  one  living  for  me  except  you,  nor  I 
alive  to  any,  who  can  change  my  feelings  fixed  as 
fteel  either  for  good  or  ill  (either  to  pleafure  or 
pain).  Malone  propofed  '  e'er  changes  '.  Knight, 
*/o  changes.'  *  Senfe  '  may  be  the  plural. 

1 1 .  Critic,    cenfurer,  as  in    Troilus  &  Crejfida, 
Aft  v.  fc.  2,  1.  131. 

12.  Difpenfe  with,  excufe,  pardon.     So  Lucrece, 
1.  1070,  and  1.  1279  :—  • 

Yet  with  the  fault  I  thus  far  can  difpenfe. 

13.  So  Jlrongly  in  my  purpofe  bred.    Schmidt  gives 
as  an  explanation :  '  So  kept  and  harboured  in  my 
thoughts'. 

14.  They're    dead.       The    Quarto    has    *y'are\ 
Malone  (1780)  reads  'are',    (1790)    'they   are'; 
Dyce  '  they  're'.     The  Quarto  /  =  th'  =  they. 


NOTES.  223 

CXIII.  In  connexion  with  cxn. ;  the  writer's 
mind  and  fenfes  are  filled  with  his  friend ;  in  cxn. 
he  tells  how  his  ear  is  flopped  to  all  other  voices 
but  one  beloved  voice ;  here  he  tells  how  his  eye 
fees  things  only  as  related  to  his  friend. 

i.  Mine  eye  is  in  my  mind.  Hamlet,  Act  I.  fc.  2, 
1.185:  'In  my  mind's  eye,  Horatio '.  So  too  Lucrece, 
1.  1426. 

3.   Part  his  function,  divide  its  function. 
6.  Latch,   catch,  feize.     Macbeth,  Ad  iv.  fc.   3, 
1.  195:  — 

I  have  words 

That  would  be  howl'd  out  in  the  defer t  air 
Where  hearing  fhould  not  latch  them. 

The  Quarto  has  '  lack '. 

10.  Favour,  afpecl:,  appearance,  countenance,  as 
in  Meafure  for  Meafure,  Acl:  iv.  fc.  2,  1.  185. 

14.  Mine  untrue.  If  we  accept  this,  the  text  of 
the  Quarto,  we  muft  hold  '  untrue  'to  be  a  fubftan- 
tive  ;  explaining,  with  Malone,  *  The  fmcerity  of  my 
affe&ion  is  the  caufe  of  my  untruth,  i.e.  my  not 
feeing  objects  truly,  fuch  as  they  appear  to  the  reft 
of  mankind '.  So  in  Meafure  for  Meafure,  Ad  n. 
fc.  4,  1.  170:  — 

As  for  you, 

Say  what  you  can,  my  falfe  o'erweighs  your  true. 

Malone  propofed  and  withdrew  <  makes  mine  eye 
untrue'.  Collier,  <maketh  my  eyne  untrue';  Lett- 
fom,  '  mak'th  mine  eye  untrue  '. 

CXIV.  Continues  the  fubje£i  treated  in  cxin.,  and 


224  NOTES. 

inquires  why  and  how  it  is  that  his  eye  gives  a  falfe 
report  of  obje&s. 

5.  Indigeft,  chaotic,  formlefs.  As  in  2  King 
Henry  vi.,  Ad  v.  fc.  i,  1.  157;  'indigefted  lump'. 
So  3  King  Henry  vi.,  Aft  v.  fc.  6,  1.  51. 

9.  Compare.  Twelfth  Night,  Ad  i.  fc.  5, 1.  328  :-— 

I  do  I  know  not  what,  and  fear  to  find 
Mine  eye  too  great  a  flatterer  for  my  mind. 

1 1 .  Wlmt  with  his  gujl  is  'greeing,  what  is  pleafmg 
to  his  (the  eye's)  tafte  ;  'gree ;  to  agree. 

13,  14.  'The  allufion  here  is  to  the  tafters  to 
princes.  So,  in  King  John : — 

"  who  did  tafte  to  him  ? 

HUB.  A  monk  whofe  bowels  fuddenly  burjl  out"'. 

STEEVENS. 

CXV.  Shakfpere  now  defires  to  fhow  that  love 
has  grown  through  error  and  feeming  eftrangement. 

4.  My  flame.  So  in  cix.  1.  2,  *  abfence  feemed 
my  flame  to  qualify '. 

1 1,  12.  Certain  o'er  incertainty,  crowning  the  pre- 
fent :  So  Sonnet  cvn.  7  :  — 

Incertainties  now  crown  themfelves  a/ured. 

CXVI.  Admits  his  wanderings,  but  love  is  fixed 
above  all  the  errors  and  trials  of  man  and  man's  life. 

2.  Impediments  (to  the  marriage  of  true  minds). 
So  Form  of  Solemnisation  of  Matrimony  :  f  If  any  of 
you  know  caufe  or  juft  impediment f  etc.'. 

2,  3.  Love  is  not  love,  etc.  So  King  Leart  A£t  I. 
fc.  i,  1.  241  : — 


NOTES.  22  5 

Love's  not  love 

When  it  is  mingled  with  regards  that  Jland 
Aloof  from  the  entire  point. 

5,  6.  An  ever-fixed  mark,  etc.  So  Coriolanus, 
Adv.  fc.  3,  1.  74:  — 

Like  a  great  fea-mark  jlanding  every  flaw. 

7.  //  is  the  ftar,  etc.  '  Apparently,  whofe  ftellar 
influence  is  unknown,  although  his  angular  altitude 
has  been  determined'. — F.  T.  PALGRAVE.  Schmidt 
explains  unknown  here  as  inexprejfible,  incalculable, 
immenfe.  The  paflage  feems  to  mean,  As  the  ftar, 
over  and  above  what  can  be  afcertained  concerning 
it  for  our  guidance  at  fea,  has  unknowable  occult 
virtue  and  influence,  fo  love,  befide  its  power  of 
guiding  us,  has  incalculable  potencies.  This  inter- 
pretation is  confirmed  by  the  next  Sonnet  (cxvn.) 
in  which  the  fnnile  of  failing  at  fea  is  introduced ; 
Shakfpere  there  confeffes  his  wanderings,  and  adds 
as  his  apology 

/  did  ftrive  to  prove 
The  conftancy  and  virtue  of  your  love — 

conftancy,  the  guiding  fixednefs  of  love ;  virtue,  the 
'  unknown  worth '.  Sidney  Walker  propofed  '  whofe 
north's  unknown',  explaining  'As,  by  following  the 
guidance  of  the  northern  ftar,  a  fhip  may  fail  an 
immenfe  way,  yet  never  reach  the  true  north ;  fo 
the  limit  of  love  is  unknown.  Or  can  any  other 
good  fenfe  be  made  of  "  north" ?  Judicent  rei  aftro- 
nomica  periti.'  Dr.  Ingleby  (The  Soule  Arayed, 


226  NOTES. 

1872,  pp.  5,  6,  note)  after  quoting  in  connexion 
with  this  paffage  the  lines  in  which  Caefar  fpeaks  of 
himfelf  (Julius  Cafar,  in.  i)  as  'conftant  as  the 
northern  ftar ',  writes :  *  Here  human  virtue  is 
figured  under  the  ' true-fix'd  and  refting  quality '  of 
the  northern  ftar.  Surely,  then,  the  "  worth  "  fpoken 
of  muft  be  conjlancy  or  fixednefs.  The  failor  muft 
know  that  the  ftar  has  this  worth,  or  his  latitude 
would  not  depend  on  its  altitude.  Juft  fo  without 
the  knowledge  of  this  worth  in  love,  a  man  "  hoifts 
fail  to  all  the  winds  ",  and  is  "frequent  with  unknown 
minds".' 

Height,  it  fhould  be  obferved,  was  ufed  by  Eliza- 
bethan writers,  in  the  fenfe  of  value,  and  the  word 
may  be  ufed  here  in  a  double  fenfe,  altitude  (of  the 
ftar)  and  value  (of  love),  *  love  whofe  worth  is  un- 
known however  it  may  be  valued '. 

9.  Time's  fool,  the  fport  or  mockery  of  Time. 
So  i  King  Henry  IV.,  Aft  V.  fc.  4,  1.  81  :  — 

But  thought's  the  Jlave  of  life }  and  life  time's  fool. 

1 1 .  His  brief  hours,  i.e.  Time's  brief  hours. 

12.  Bears  it  out  even  to  the  edge  of  doom.     So 
All's  Well  that  Ends  Well,  Aft  m.  fc.  3,  11.  5,  6  :— 

We'll  jirive  to  bear  it  for  your  worthy  fake 
To  the  extreme  edge  of  hazard. 

CXVII.  Continues  the  confeflion  of  his  wander- 
ings from  his  friend ;  but  aflerts  that  it  was  only  to 
try  his  friend's  conftancy  in  love. 


NOTES.  227 

5.  Frequent,  converfant,  intimate. 

With  unknown  minds,  perfons  who  may  not  be  • 
known,  or  obfcure  perfons. 

6.  Given  to  time  ;  given  to  fociety,  to  the  world  ; 
fee  note  on  Sonnet  LXX.  1.  6.     Or,  given  away  to 
temporary  occafion  what  is  your  property  and  there- 
fore an  heirloom  for  eternity.     Staunton  propofes 
'  given  to  them '. 

1 1 .  Level,  the  diredion  in  which  a  miflive  weapon 
is  aimed;  as  in  A  Winter's  Tale,  Ad  n.  fc.  3,  1.  6. 

CXVIII.  Continues  the  fubjed;  adding  that  he 
had  fought  ftrange  loves,  only  to  quicken  his  appe- 
tite for  the  love  that  is  true. 

2.  Eager,  four,  tart,  poignant.  Aigre  Fr.,  as  in 
Hamlet,  Ad  I.  fc.  5, 1.  69. 

9.   Policy,  prudent  management  of  affairs. 

12.  Rank,    'fick    (of    hypertrophy).'— SCHMIDT. 
So  2  King  Henry  iv.,  Aft  iv.  fc.  I,  1.  64 : — 

To  diet  rank  minds  fick  of  happinefs. 

CXIX.  In  clofe  connexion  with  the  preceding 
fonnet ;  fhowing  the  gains  of  ill,  that  ftrange  loves 
have  made  the  true  love  more  ftrong  and  dear. 

2.  Limbecks,  alembics,  ftills.  Macbeth,  Ad  I.  fc. 
7, 1.  67. 

4.  Either,  lofmg  in  the  very  moment  of  vidory, 
or  gaining  vidories  (of  other  loves  than  thofe  of  his 
friend)  which  were  indeed  but  lofles. 

7.  How  have  mine  eyes  out  of  their  fpheres  been 
fitted,  etc.,  how  have  mine  eyes  flarted  from  their 


228  NOTES. 

hollows  in  the  fever-fits  of  my  difeafe.       Compare 
Hamlet,  Ad  I.  fc.  5,  1.  17  :  — 

Make  thy  two  eyes,  like  jlars,  Jlart  from  their  fpheres. 
Lettfom  would  read  *  been  flitted '. 

1 1 .  Ruined  love  .  .  .  built  anew.  Note  the 
introdudion  of  the  metaphor  of  rebuilt  love, 
reappearing  in  later  fonnets.  Compare  The  Comedy 
of  Errors,  Ad  in.  fc.  2,  1.  4  : — 

Shall  love,  in  building,  grow  fo  ruinous, 
and  Antony  &  Cleopatra,  Aft  m.  fc.  2,  11.  29,  30. 

1 4.  Ills.  So  the  Quarto ;  altered  by  Malone  and 
other  editors,  perhaps  rightly  (fee  1.  9)  to  ill. 

CXX.  Continues  the  apology  for  wanderings  in 
love ;  not  Shakfpere  alone  has  fo  erred,  but  alfo  his 
friend. 

3.  I  muft  needs  be  overwhelmed  by  the  wrong  I 
have  done  to  you,  knowing  how  I  myfelf  fuffered, 
when  you  were  the  offender. 

6.  A  hell  of  time.  So  in  Othello,  Aft  m.  fc.  3, 
H.  169,  170  :  — 

But  O,  what  damned  minutes  tells  he  o'er 
Who  dotes  yet  doubts,  fufpefts,  yet  Jlrongly  loves, 

and  Lucrece,  11.  1286,  1287. 

9.   Our  night.     Staunton  propofes  '  four  night '. 
Remember  d,  reminded,  an  adive  verb  governing 
fenfe  in  1.  10.     So  The   Tempejl,  Ad  I.  fc.  2, 1.  243. 
ii.  And  foon  to  you,  as  you  to  me,  then  ten&er'a. 
*  Surely  the  fenfe  requires  that  we  Ihould  point, — 
And  foon  to  you,  as  you  to  me  then,  tendered  \ 

W.  S.  WALKER. 


NOTES.  229 

Staunton  propofes — 

And  mame  to  you — as  you  to  me  then — tendered. 
12.  Salve.    Compare  Sonnet  xxxiv.  1.  7. 

CXXI.  Though  admitting  his  wanderings  from 
his  friend's  love  (cxvm.-cxx.),  Shakfpere  refufes  to 
admit  the  fcandalous  charges  of  unfriendly  cenfors. 

Dr.  Burgerfdijk  regards  the  fonnet  as  a  defence 
of  the  ftage  againft  Puritans. 

2.  Not  to  be,  i.e.  not  to  be  vile. 

3,  4.  And  the  legitimate  pleafure  loft,  which  is 
deemed  vile,  not  by  us  who  experience  it  but  by 
others  who  look  on  and  condemn. 

6.  Give  falutation  to  my  fportive  Uood.  Compare 
King  Henry  vm.,  Ad  n.  fc.  3,  1.  103  :  — 

Would  I  had  no  being, 
If  this  falute  my  blood  a  jot. 

8.  In  their  wills,  according  to  their  pleafure. 

9.  No,  I  am  that  I  am.     Compare  Othello,  Ad 
I.  fc.  i,  1.  65,  *  I  am  not  what  I  am'. 

1 1 .  Bevel,  *  i.e.  crooked ;  a  term  ufed  only,  I 
believe,  by  mafons  and  joiners'. — STEEVENS. 

CXXII.  An  apology  for  having  parted  with  tables 
(memorandum-book),  the  gift  of  his  friend. 

i,  2.  So  in  Hamlet,  Ad  I.  fc.  5,  11.  98-103  :  — 

Yea,  from  the  table  of  my  memory,  etc. 

So  alfo  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  Ad  n.  fc.  7, 11. 
3,4- 


230  NOTES. 

3.  That  idle  rank,  that  poor  dignity  (of  tables 
written  upon  with  pen  or  pencil). 

9.  That  poor  retention,  that  poor  means  of  retain- 
ing impreflions,  i.e.  the  tables  given  by  his  friend. 

10.  Tallies,  flicks  on  which  notches  and  fcores 
are  cut  to  keep  accounts  by.     So  2  King  Henry  vi., 
Aft  iv.  fc.  7,  1.  39. 

CXXIII.  In  the  M  fonnet  Shakfpere  boafts  of 
his  *  lafting  memory '  as  the  recorder  of  love ;  he 
now  declares  that  the  regifters  and  records  of  Time 
are  falfe,  but  Time  fhall  impofe  no  cheat  upon  his 
memory  or  heart. 

2.  Thy  pyramids.  I  think  this  is  metaphorical ; 
all  that  Time  piles  up  from  day  to  day,  all  his  new 
ftupendous  erections  are  really  but  *  dreffings  of  a 
former  fight '.  Is  there  a  reference  to  the  new  love, 
the  *  ruined  love  built  anew*  (Sonnet  cxix.), 
between  the  two  friends?  The  fame  metaphor 
appears  in  the  next  Sonnet  (cxxiv.)  *  No,  it  [his  love] 
was  builded  far  from  accident',  and  again  in  cxxv. 
'Laid  great  bafes  for  eternity  etc.'.  Does  Shak- 
fpere mean  here  that  this  new  love  is  really  the 
fame  with  the  old  love;  he  will  recognize  the 
identity  of  new  and  old,  and  not  wonder  at  either 
the  pad  or  prefent  ? 

5 .  Admire,  wonder  at,  as  in  Twelfth  Night,  Act 
m.  fc.  4,  1.  165. 

7.  And  rather  maize  them.  '  Them '  refers  to 
'what  thou  doft  foift  etc/;  we  choofe  rather  to 
think  fuch  things  new,  and  specially  created  for  our 
fatiffadion,  than,  as  they  really  are,  old  tilings  of 
which  we  have  already  heard. 


NOTES.  231 

CXXIV.  Continues  the  thought  of  cxxin.  13,  14. 
The  writer's  love  being  unconnected  with  motives 
of  felf-intereft,  is  independent  of  Fortune  and  Time. 

i.  The  child  of  Jlate,  born  of  place  and  power 
and  pomp. 

4.  Weeds,  etc.  My  love  might  be  fubjecl:  to  Time's 
hate  and  fo  plucked  up  as  a  weed,  or  fubjed  to  Time's 
love,  and  fo  gathered  as  a  flower. 

7,  8.  When  time  puts  us,  who  have  been  in 
favour,  out  of  fafhion. 

9.  Policy,  that  heretic,  the  prudence  of  felf- 
intereft,  which  is  faithlefs  in  love.  Compare  Romeo 
&  Juliet,  A3:  i.  fc.  2, 1.  9  5 .  Romeo,  fpeaking  of  eyes 
unfaithful  to  the  beloved:  — 

TranJ "parent  heretics  le  burnt  for  liars. 

1 1 .  Hugely  politic,  love  itfelf  is  infinitely  prudent, 
prudent  for  eternity. 

12.  That  it  nor  grows.     Steevens  propofes  glows. 

13.  14.  Does  this  mean,  'I  call  to  witnefs  the 
tranfitory  unworthy  loves  (fools   of  time  =  fports 
of  time.     See  cxvi.  9),  whofe  death  was  a  virtue 
fince  their  life  was  a  crime'? 

CXXV.  In  connexion  with  Sonnet  cxxiv. ;  there 
Shakfpere  afferted  that  his  love  was  not  fubjecl:  to 
time,  as  friendfhips  founded  on  felf-intereft  are ; 
here  he  aliens  that  it  is  not  founded  on  beauty  of 
perfon,  and  therefore  cannot  pafs  away  with  the 
decay  of  fuch  beauty.  It  is  pure  love  for  love. 

i .  Bore  the  canopy,  i.e.  rendered  outward  homage 
as  one  renders  who  bears  a  canopy  over  a  fuperior. 


232  NOTES. 

King  James  I.  made  his  progrefs  through  London 
1603-4,  under  a  canopy.  In  the  account  of  the 
King  and  Queen's  entertainment  at  Oxford  1605,  we 
read :  '  From  thence  was  carried  over  the  King  and 
Queen  a  fair  canopy  of  crimfon  taffety  by  fix  of  the 
Canons  of  the  Church '. — Nichol's  Progreffes  of  King 
James,  vol.  i.  p.  546. 

2.  The  outward.     Cf.  Sonnet  LXIX.,  1-5.     Staun- 
ton  propofes  '  thy  outward',  or  '  thee  outward'. 

3 .  Or  laid,  etc.     The  love  of  the  earlier  fonnets, 
which  celebrated  the  beauty  of  Shakfpere's  friend, 
was  to  laft  for  ever,  and  yet  it  has  been  ruined. 

5.  Favour,  outward  appearance,    as    in  Sonnet 
cxm.  10. 

6.  Lofe  all  and  more,  ceafe  to  love  and  through 
fatiety  even  grow  to  diflike. 

9.  Obfequious,  zealous,  devoted,  as  in  Merry 
Wives  of  Windfor,  Ad  iv.  fc.  2,  1.  2. 

1 1 .  Mix'd  with  feconds,  mixed  with  bafer  matter. 
'  I  am  juft  informed  by  an  old  lady,  that  feconds  is  a 
provincial  term  for  the  fecond  kind  of  flour,  which  is 
collected  after  the  fmaller  bran  is  fifted.  That  our 
author's  oblation  was  pure,  [an  offering  of  fine  flour] 
unmixed  with  bafer  matter  is  all  that  he  mearit  to 
fay'. — STEEVENS. 

13.  Suborn' d  informer.  Does  this  refer  to  an 
aftual  perfon,  one  of  the  fpies  of  Sonnet  cxxi.  7,  8  ? 
Or  is  the  '  informer '  Jealoufy,  or  Sufpicion  ?  as  in 
Venus  &  Adonis,  1.  655  :  — 

This  four  informer,  this  bate-breeding  fpy, 
This  canker  that  eats  up  Love's  tender  Spring, 
This  carry-tale,  diffentious  Jealoufy. 


NOTES.  235 

CXXVI.  This  is  the  concluding  poem  of  the 
feries  addrefled  to  Shakfpere's  friend ;  it  confifts  of 
fix  rhymed  couplets.  In  the  Quarto  parenthefes 
follow  the  twelfth  line  thus  :  — 

c  ) 

c  ) 

as  if  to  (how  that  two  lines  are  wanting.  But  there 
is  no  good  reafon  for  fuppofmg  that  the  poem  is 
defective.  In  William  Smith's  *  Chloris  ',  1596,  a 
'fonnet'  (No.  xxvu.)  of  this  fix-couplet  form  appears. 

2.  Sickle,  hour.  Lintott  reads  'fickle  hour'; 
S.  Walker  conjectures  'fickle-hour';  'Capell  in  his 
copy  of  Lintott's  edition  has  corrected  "  hower  "  to 
"  hoar  "  leaving  "  fickle  ".  Doubtlefs  he  intended  to 
read  "fickle  hoar  ".'—CAMBRIDGE  SHAKESPEARE. 

12.  Quietus.  As  in  Hamlet's  soliloquy,  Ad  m. 
fc.  i,  1.  75,  'This  is  the  technical  term  for  the 
acquittance  which  every  (heriff  [or  accountant] 
receives  on  fettling  his  accounts  at  the  Exchequer. 
Compare  Webfter,  Duchefs  of  Malfi  [i.  i.,  vol.  i. 
p.  198,  Works,  ed.  Dyce]  : — 'And  'caufe  you  fhall 
not  come  to  me  in  debt,  Being  now  my  fteward,  here 
upon  your  lips  I  fign  your  Quietus  eft".' — STEEVENS. 

To  render  thee,  to  yield  thee  up,  furrender  thee. 
When  Nature  is  called  to  a  reckoning  (by  Time  ?) 
fhe  obtains  her  acquittance  upon  furrendering  thee, 
her  chief  treafure. 

CXXVII.  The  fonnets  addreffed  to  his  lady  begin 
here.  Steevens  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
'  almoft  all  that  is  faid  here  on  the  fubject  of  com- 


234 


NOTES. 


plexion,  is  repeated  in  Love's  Labour's  Loft,  Act  rv. 
fc.  3, 11.  250-265. 

Of  if  in  Hack  my  lady's  brow  be  deck\iy 
It  mourns  that  painting  and  ufurping  hair 

Should  ravijh  doters  with  a  falfe  afpeft  ; 

And  therefore  is  fhe  born  to  make  black  fair1. 

Compare  Sonnet  7  of  '  Aftrophel  and  Stella '. 

3.  Succejfive  heiry  heir  by  order  of  fucceffion,  as 
in  2  King  Henry  vi.,  Act  in.  fc.  i,  1.  49. 

7.  No  holy  bower.  Malone  reads  'no  holy 
hour '. 

10.  Suited,  clad. 

And  they.  Dyce  reads  '  as  they '.  Walker 
propofes  inftead  of  *  my  miftrefs'  eyes '  in  this  line 
'  my  miftrefs'  hairs '.  The  editors  of  the  Globe 
Shakefpeare  read  *  My  miftrefs'  brows '.  Staunton, 
'  eyes '  1.  9,  *  brows  '  1.  i  o. 

12.  Slandering  creation,  etc.,  difhonoring  nature 
with  a  fpurious  reputation. 

1 3.  Becoming  of,  gracing,  so  '  fearing  of  Sonnet 
cxv.  1.  9,  'licking  of  Venus  &  Adonis^  1.  915. 

CXXVIII. 

5.  Envy.  The  accent  is  on  the  laft  fyllable. 
Compare  Titus  Andronicus,  Aft  n.  fc.  4,  1.  44  (of 
fingers  on  a  lute)  :  — 

And  make  the  filken  firings  delight  to  kifs  them. 

Jacks,  keys  of  the  virginal. 

1 1 .  Thy  fingers.    The  Quarto  has  '  their  fingers '. 

CXXIX. 

i.  Expenfe,  expenditure. 


NOTES.  235 


9.  Mad.     The  Quarto  has 
1  1  .  Proved  a  very  woe.     The  Quarto  has  *  proud 
and  very  wo  '. 

CXXX.  For  the  Sonneteer's  conventional  praife 
of  beauty,  cf.  Spenfer,  Amoretti,  9,  15;  Sidney, 
AJlrophel  and  Stella,  9  ;  and  Lodge,  Phillis,  8,  with 
reference  to  which  H.  Ifaac  fuppofes  this  Sonnet  to 
have  been  written. 

2.  Lips'  red.     The  Quarto  has  '  lips  red  J. 

CXXXI.  Connected  with  Sonnet  cxxx.  ;  praife  of 
his  lady,  black  but,  to  her  lover,  beautiful. 

3  .  Dear  doting.     Dyce  reads  '  dear-doting  '. 

14.  This  Jlander.  The  flander  that  her  face  has 
not  the  power  to  make  love  groan. 

CXXXII.  Connected  with  Sonnet  cxxxi.  ;  there 
Shakfpere  complains  of  the  cruelty  and  tyranny  of 
his  lady  ;  here  the  fame  fubje&  is  continued  and  a 
plea  made  for  her  pity. 

2.  Knowing  thy  heart  torments  me.  The  Quarto 
has  '  heart  torment  ',  and  Malone  reads  *  Knowing 
thy  heart,  torment  '.  The  correction  '  torments  ' 
was  made  in  ed.  1640. 

5.  Cf.  Sonnet  cxxx.  i  ;  after  all,  her  eyes  are 
like  fun  and  ftars  in  a  dim  fky  (her  black  brows  and 
hair). 

9.  Mourning.  The  Quarto  has  '  morning  ',  and 
probably  a  play  was  intended  on  the  words  '  morning 
fun  '  and  *  mourning  eyes  '.  This  line  has  a  ring 
like  that  of  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Ad  iv.  fc.  5, 
1.  32:- 


236  NOTES. 

What  ftars  do  fpangle  heaven  with  fuck  beauty 
As  thofe  two  eyes  become  that  heavenly  face. 
12.  Suit,  clothe,  array. 

CXXXIII.  Here  Shakfpere's  heart  <  groans '  (fee 
cxxxi.)  for  the  fuffering  of  his  friend  as  well  as 
his  own. 

8.  Crojfd.     See  Sonnet  xxxiv.  12,  and  XLII.  12. 

CXXXIV.  In  clofe  connexion  with  Sonnet  cxxxm. 
3 .   That  other  mine,  my  alter  ego. 
5 .   Wilt  not,  wilt  not  reftore  him. 

9.  Statute.     '  Statute  has  here  its  legal  fignifica- 
tion,  that  of  a  fecurity  or  obligation  for  money*. 
— MALONE. 

ii.   A  friend  came,  eic.t  a  friend  who  became,  etc. 

CXXXV.  Perhaps  fuggefted  by  the  fecond  line 
of  the  laft  fonnet,  *  I  myfelf  am  mortgaged  to  thy 
will'. 

i.  Will.  In  this  Sonnet,  in  the  next,  and  in 
Sonnet  CXLIII.  the  Quarto  marks  by  italics  and 
capital  W  the  play  on  words,  Will = William 
[Shakfpere],  Will  =  William,  the  Chriftian  name  of 
Shakfpere's  friend  [?  Mr.  W.  H.]  and  Will= defire, 
volition.  Here  *  Witt  in  overplus '  means  Will 
Shakfpere,  as  the  next  line  ftiows, '  more  than  enough 
am  I '.  The  firft  *  Will '  means  defire ;  (but  as  we 
know  that  his  lady  had  a  hufband,  it  is  poffible  that 
he  alfo  may  have  been  a  'Will',  and  that  the  firft 
'  Will '  here  may  refer  to  him  befides  meaning 
<  defire ');  the  fecond  'Will'  is  Shakfpere's  friend. 

'  In  Shakefpeare's  time  quibbles  of  this  kind  were 


NOTES.  237 

common.  Compare  the  following  in  the  Booke  of 
Merry  Riddles,  ed.  1617:  — 

THE  LI  RIDDLE. 
My  love's  will 
I  am  content  for  to  fulfill, 
Within  this  rime  his  name  is  framed, 
Tell  me  then  how  he  is  named. 

['Will I  am*  (in  lines  i , 2)  =  William.] '— HALLIWELL. 
9.  Compare  Twelfth  Night,  Ad:  n.  fc.  4,  1.  103, 
and  Ad  i.  fc.   I,  1.  n,  *  Thy  [love's]  capacity  re- 
ceiveth  as  the  fea.' 

I  5 .  Let  no  unkind,  no  fair  befeechers  kill.  If  this 
be  the  true  reading,  we  muft  take  '  unkind '  as  a 
fubftantive,  meaning  *  unkind  one'  (i.e.  his  lady). 
So  in  Daniel's  '  Delia',  Sonnet  n. :  — 

And  tell  ih*  Unkind  how  dearly  I  have  loved  her. 

Poffibly  *  no  fair '  may  mean  '  no  fair  one ',  as  often 
in  Daniel.  But  perhaps  the  line  ought  to  be  printed 
thus : — 

Let  no  unkind  '  No '  fair  befeechers  kill, 
i.e.  let  no  unkind  refufal  kill  fair  befeechers. 

Mr.  W.  M.  Roffetti  propofes  '  (kill ',  meaning 
avail,  profit,  for  '  kill '. 

CXXXVI.  Continues  the  play  on  words  of  Sonnet 
cxxxv. 

6.  Ay  fill.  The  Quarto  has  '  I  fill',  T  being 
the  ufual  way  of  printing  our  'Ay*  at  the  time; 
but  poffibly  there  may  here  (as  often  elfewhere  in 
Shakfpere)  be  a  play  on  the  words  '  T=ay,  yes,  and 
T=myfelf. 


238  NOTES. 

9.  See  note  on  Sonnet  vm.  11.  13,  14. 

i  o.  Store's.  The  Quarto  has  *  ftores ' ;  the 
Cambridge  editors  follow  Malone  in  reading  'Jtores"; 
Schmidt  fays  of  Store  ;  *  ufed  only  in  the  fmg. ;  there- 
fore in  Sonnet  cxxxvi.  io,Jlore's  notjlores".  Lines 
9,10  mean  '  You  need  not  count  me  when  merely 
counting  the  number  of  thofe  who  hold  you  dear, 
but  when  eftimating  the  worth  of  your  poffeflions, 
you  muft  have  regard  to  me*.  '  To  fet  Jlore  by  a 
thing  or  perfon'  is  a  phrafe  connected  with  the 
meaning  of  '  flore  '  in  this  pafTage. 

12.  Something  fweet.     Sidney  Walker  propofed 
and  Dyce  reads  *  fomething,  fweet'. 

13,  14.  Love  only   my  name   (fomething   lefs 
than  loving  myfelf),  and  then  thou  loveft  me,  for 
my  name  is  Will,  and  I  myfelf  am  all  will,  i.e.  all 
defire. 

CXXXVII.  In  cxxxvi.  he  has  prayed  his  lady  to 
receive  him  in  the  blindnefs  of  love ;  he  now  mows 
how  Love  has  dealt  with  his  own  eyes. 

6.  Anchored.  The  fame  metaphor  is  found  in 
Antony  &  Cleopatra,  Aft  I.  fc.  5,  1.  33. 

9,  10.  Several  plot,  etc.  So  Love's  Labour's  Lojl, 
Ad  ii.  fc.  I,  1.  223  :— 

My  lips  are  no  common  though  feveral  they  le. 

'  Fields  that  were  enclofed  were  called  federals 
in  oppofition  to  commons,  the  former  belonging  to 
individuals,  the  others  to  the  inhabitants  generally. 
When  commons  were  enclofed,  portions  allotted  to 
owners  of  freeholds,  copyholds,  and  cottages,  were 
fenced  in,  and  termed  feverah\ — HALLIWELL. 


NOTES.  239 

CXXXVIII.  Conneaed  with  cxxxvn.  The  frauds 
pra&ifed  by  blind  love,  and  the  blinded  lovers, 
Shakfpere  and  his  lady,  who  yet  muft  ftrive  to  blind 
themfelves.  This  fonnet  appeared  as  the  firft 
poem  of  The  Pajfionate  Pilgrim  (1599)  in  the 
following  form : — 

When  my  love  fwears  that  Jhe  is  made  of  truth, 
I  do  believe  her,  though  I  know  Jhe  lies, 
That  Jbe  might  think  me  fome  untutor'd  youth, 
Vnfkilful  in  the  world's  falfe  forgeries. 
Thus  vainly  thinking  that  Jhe  thinks  me  young. 
Although  I  know  my  years  he  pajl  the  bejl, 
Ifmiling  credit  her  falfe-f peaking  tongue, 
Outfacing  faults  in  love  with  love's  ill  reft. 
But  wherefore  fays  my  love  that  Jhe  is  young  ? 
And  wherefore  fay  not  I  that  I  am  old  ? 
O,  love's  bejl  habit  is  a  foothing  tongue, 
And  age,  in  love,  loves  not  to  have  years  told, 
Therefore  I  'II  lie  with  love,  and  love  with  me. 
Since  that  our  faults  in  love  thus  fmother'd  be. 
ii.  Habit,  bearing,  deportment,  or  garb. 

CXXXIX.  Probably  connected  with  cxxxvur. ; 
goes  on  to  fpeak  of  his  lady's  untruthfulnefs ;  he 
may  try  to  believe  her  profeflions  of  truth,  but  do  not 
afk  him  to  juftify  the  wrong  {he  lays  upon  his  heart. 

CXL.  In  connexion  with  Sonnet  cxxxix. ;  his 
lady's  '  glancing  afide '  of  that  fonnet  (1.  6)  reap- 
pears here,  1.  14  'Bear  thine  eyes  flraight*.  He 
complains  of  her  excefs  of  cruelty. 

6.  To  tell  me  Jo,  'to  tell  me  thou  dojl  love  me*. 
— MALONE. 


240  NOTES. 

14.  Bear  thine  eyes Jlraight,  etc.  'That  is  (as  it 
is  expreffed  in  a  former  fonnet), 

Thy  looks  with  me,  thy  heart  in  other  place '. 

MALONE. 

CXLI.  In  connexion  with  CXL.  ;  the  *  proud 
heart'  of  1.  14  of  that  fonnet  reappears  here  1.  12. 
His  foolifh  heart  loves  her,  and  her  proud  heart 
punifhes  his  folly  by  cruelty  and  tyranny.  Compare 
with  this  fonnet,  Dray  ton,  Idea,  29. 

5.  Tongue's  tune.  So  Venus  fr  Adonis,  1.  431. 
'  Heavenly  tune  harfh-founding ' ;  fo  too  *  the  tune 
of  Imogen*. 

9.  Five  wits.  'From  Stephen  Hawes's  poem 
called  Graunde  Amoure  [and  La  Belle  Pucel],  ch. 
xxiv.  edition  1 5  54,  it  appears  that  \hzfive  wits  were 
"  common  wit,  imagination,  fantafy,  eftimation  [i.e. 
judgment]  and  memory".  Wit  in  our  author's 
time  was  the  general  term  for  the  intellectual  power. 
— MALONE'. — DYCE'S  GloffarytoShakefpeare^.  507. 

n,  12.  My  heart  ceafes  to  govern  me,  and  fo 
leaves  me  no  better  than  the  likenefs  of  a  man — a 
man  without  a  heart — in  order  that  it  may  become 
Have  to  thy  proud  heart. 

1 4.  Pain.  *  Pain  in  its  old  etymological  fenfe  of 
punijhment'.—W.  S.  WALKER. 

CXLII.  In  connexion  with  CXLI.  ;  the  firft  line 
takes  up  the  word  *  fin '  from  the  laft  line  of  that 
fonnet.  '  Thofe  whom  thine  eyes  woo '  (1.  i  o) 
carries  on  the  complaint  of  cxxxix.  6,  and  CXL.  14. 


NOTES.  241 

6.  Scarlet  ornaments.     So  in  King  Edward  in., 
(printed  1 596)  Act  n.  fc.  1, 1.  10  :  — 

His  cheeks  put  on  their  fcarlet  ornaments. 

This  line  occurs  in  the  part  of  the  play  attributed 
by  feveral  critics  to  Shakfpere. 

7.  SeaVd  falfe  bonds  of  love,  given  falfe  kiffes. 
So  in  Venus  &  Adonis,  1.  511  :  — 

Pure  lips,  fweet  feals  in  my  foft  lips  imprinted, 
What  bargains  may  I  make,  Jlill  to  be  fealing  ? 

Again  in  Meafure  for  Meafure,  Act  IV.  fc.  I,  11. 
5,  6;  and  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Aft  n.  fc.  6, 
11.  5,  6.— MALONE. 

8.  Robb'd  others'   beds'  revenues.      The  Quarto 
has  'beds  revenues'.     Sewell  (ed.  i)  reads  'beds, 
revenues'.     Capell  MS.  has  *  bed-revenues '. 

13,  14.  If  thou  dojlfeek  to  have,  etc.  If  you  feek 
to  poffefs  love,  and  will  (how  none,  you  may  be 
denied  on  the  precedent  of  your  own  example. 
Staunton  propofes  '  chide  '  in  place  of  'hide'. 

CXLIII.  Perhaps  the  laft  two  lines  of  Sonnet 
CXLII.  fuggeft  this.  In  that  fonnet  Shakfpere  fays 
'  If  you  fhow  no  kindnefs,  you  can  expect  none  from 
those  you  love ' ;  here  he  fays  '  If  you  fhow  kindnefs 
to  me,  I  fhall  wifh  you  fuccefs  in  your  purfuit  of 
him  you  feek'. 

4.  Purfuit.  For  examples  of  this  pronunciation 
of  purfuit  and  purfue  fee  W.  S.  Walker's  Critical 
Examination  of  the  Text  of  Shakefpeare,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  366,  367. 


242  NOTES. 

8.  Not  pricing,  making  no  account  of. — SCHMIDT. 

13.  Will.      Poffibly,  as  Steevens  takes  it,  Will 
Shakfpere ;  but  it  feems  as  likely,  or  perhaps  more 
likely,  to  be  Shakfpere's  friend  'Will'  [?  W.  H.]. 
The  laft  two  lines  promife  that  Shakfpere  will  pray 
for  her  fuccefs  in  the  chafe  of^the  fugitive  (Will?), 
on  condition  that,  if  fucceffful,  fhe  will  turn  back  to 
him,  Shakfpere,  her  babe. 

CXLIV.  This  fonnet  appears  as  the  fecond  poem 
in  The  PaJJionate  Pilgrim  with  the  following  varia- 
tions:  1.  2, 'That  like';  1.  3,  *  My  better  angel'; 
1.  4,  *  My  worfer  fpirit';  1.  6,  'From  myjide';  1. 
8,  'fair  pride';  1.  1 1,  'For  being  both  to  me';  1.  13, 
'The  truth  I  fliall  not  know'.  Compare  with  this 
fonnet  the  twentieth  of  Drayton's  Idea : — 

An  evil  fpirit,  your  beauty,  haunts  me  Jlill, 
Which  ceafeth  not  to  tempt  me  to  each  ill ; 

Thus  am  I  Jlill  provoked  to  every  evil 

By  that  good-wicked  fpirit,  fweet  angel-devil. 

2.  Suggefl,  tempt,  as  in  The  Two  Gentlemen  of 
Verona,  Ad  in.  fc.  i,  1.  34. 

6.  From  my  fide.  The  Quarto  has  '  from  my 
fight*.  The  Pajfionate  Pilgrim  fupplies  the  correction. 

1 1 .  From  me,  away  from  me. 

14.  Compare  2  King  Henry  iv.,  Ad  n.  fc.  4, 

1.365:- 

PRINCE.     For  the  women  ? 


NOTES.  243 

FALSTAFF.  For  one  of  them,  fhe  is  in  hell  already ; 
find  burns  poor  fouls. 

CXLV.  The  only  fonnet  written  in  eight-fyllable 
verfes.  Some  critics,  with  no  fufficient  reafon, 
reject  it,  as  not  by  Shakfpere. 

13,  14.  Steevens  propofes  '  away  from  hate  fhe 
flew\  and  explains  the  meaning  thus  :   *  having  pro- 
nounced the  words  I  hate,  fhe  left  me  with  a  declara- 
tion in  my  favour '.     Malone  writes :  '  The  meaning 
is — fhe  removed  the  words  I  hate  to  a  diftance  from 
hatred.  .  .  .  We  have  the  fame  kind  of  expreffion 
in  The  Rape  of  Lucrece  (11.  1534-1537): — 
"  It  cannot  be",  quoth  fhe,  "  that  fo  much  guile"  — 
She  would  have  f aid  "  can  lurk  in  fuch  a  look" ; 
But  Tarqutn's  fhape  came  in  her  mind  the  while, 
And  from  her  tongue  "  can  lurk"  from  "  cannot" 
took'. 

Malone's  explanation  is  probably  the  right  one ;  it 
is  however  poffible  that  the  meaning  may  be  from 
hatred  to  fuch  words  as  'I  hate*,  <fhe  threw  them 
away'. 

CXLV1. 

1 .  Centre  of  my  finful  earth.     So  Romeo  fr  Juliet, 
Ad ii.  fc.  i,  11.  i,  2  :— 

Can  I  go  forward  when  my  heart  is  here  ? 
Turn  back,  dull  earth,  and  find  thy  centre  out. 

2.  [Prejf'd  by]  thefe  rebel  powers  that  thee  array. 
The  Quarto  has, '  My  finful  earth  thefe  rebel,  etc.* 

21 


244  NOTES. 

but  the  line  is  manifeftly  corrupt.  Probably,  as 
Malone  fuggefts,  the  compofitor  inadvertently 
repeated  the  laft  three  words  of  the  firft  verfe 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fecond,  omitting  two 
fyllables.  Malone  propofed  '  Fool'd  by  thofe  rebel, 
etc. '  Steevens,  *  Starv'd  by  the  rebel,  etc. '  Dyce, 
<  Fool'd  by  thefe  rebel,  etc.*  F.  T.  Palgrave, 
'  Foil'd  by  thefe  rebel,  etc. '  Furnivall,  *  Hemm  d  with 
thefe  rebel,  etc. '  Bullock,  'My  fins  thefe  rebel,  etc.* 
An  anonymous  writer,  '  Thrall  to  thefe  rebel'. 
Cartwright,  'Slave  of  thefe  rebel,  etc.*  Gerald 
Maffey,  *  My  fmful  earth  thefe  rebel  powers  array*. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  *  array '  ?  Does  it  mean 
to  put  raiment  on?  So  Malone  feems  to  un- 
derftand  it.  *" Array"  here',  fays  Gerald  Maffey, 
*  does  not  only  mean  drefs,  I  think  it  alfo  fignifies  that 
in  the  flefh  thefe  rebel  powers  fet  their  battle  in  array 
againft  the  foul'. — Shakfpere's  Sonnets  never  before 
interpreted:  1866,  p.  379.  Dr.  Ingleby,  in  his 
pamphlet,  '  The  Soule  Arayed\  1872,  endeavours  to 
mow  that  'array*  here  means  abufe,  afflift,  ill- 
treat.  There  is  no  doubt  the  word  'aray '  or  'array ' 
was  ufed  in  this  fenfe  by  Elizabethan  writers,  and 
Shakfpere,  in  TJie  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  m.  2,  and 
iv.  i,  ufes  'raied',  though  nowhere  'aray',  except 
perhaps  here,  in  this  or  a  kindred  fenfe.  Taking 
'aray'  to  mean  ' afflict ',  Dr.  Ingleby  accepts 
Mr.  A.  E.  Brae's  fuggeftion '  Leagued  with  thefe  rebel, 
etc. '  *  It  is ',  he  writes.,  '  the  earth  that  is  in  league 
with  the  rebel  powers,  and  the  earth  itfelf  is  there- 
fore called  "  fmful".  Here  we  have  the  flefh,  and 


NOTES.  245 

its  refident  lufts,  reprefented  as  leagued  or  com- 
paded  in  the  work  of  defrauding  the  foul  of  her 
rightful  nutriment,  whereby  ftie  "  pines  and  fuffers 
dearth'"  (The  Soule  Arayed,  p.  15).  In  fupport  of 
the  general  opinion  that  '  array  *  means  inveft  in 
raiment,  compare  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  Ad  v. 
fc.  i,  1.  64:— 

Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  fouls  ; 
But  whiljl  this  muddy  vefture  of  decay 
Doth  grojfly  clofe  it  inf  we  cannot  hear  it. 

The  *  rebel  powers '  and  the  '  outward  walls ' 
perhaps  receive  fome  illuftration  from  the  following 
lines,  Lucrece,  11.  722-728  : — 

She  fays  her  fubjefts  with  foul  infurredion 
Have  latter  d  down  her  confecrated  wall, 
And  by  their  mortal  fault  brought  in  fubjeftion 
Her  immortality  f  and  made  her  thrall 
To  living  death  and  pain  perpetual. 

I,  with  much  hesitation,  propofe  Pre/'d  by.  Com- 
pare * o'er-preff'd  defence',  cxxxix.  8. 

10.  To  aggravate  thy  Jlore.  'Malone  fays  that 
the  original  copy  and  all  the  fubfequent  impreflions 
read  "my"  inftead  of  "thy".  The  copies  of  the 
edition  of  1609  in  the  Bodleian,  one  of  which 
belonged  to  Malone  himfelf,  in  the  Bridgewater 
Library,  and  in  the  Capell  collection  as  well  as 
Steevens's  reprint,  have  "thy"  '.  —  CAMBRIDGE 
SHAKESPEARE. 

Aggravate,  increafe. 


246  .  NOTES. 

1 1 .  Terms.  *  Terms  in  the  legal,  and  academic 
fenfe.  Long  periods  of  time,  oppofed  to  hours'. — 
W.  S.  WALKER. 

CXLVII.  In  connexion  with  CXLVI.  ;  in  that 
fonnet  the  writer  exhorts  the  foul  to  feed  and  let  the 
body  pine,  'within  be  fed',  <fo  fhalt  thou  feed  on 
Death';  here  he  tells  what  the  food  of  his  foul 
actually  is — the  unwholefome  food  of  a  fickly 
appetite.  Compare  Drayton,  Idea,  41,  'Love's 
Lunacie'. 

5.  My  reafon,  the  phyfician  to  my  love.  Compare 
The  Merry  Wives  of  Windfor,  Ad  n.  fc.  I,  1.  5  : 
'  Afk  me  no  reafon  why  I  love  you ;  for  though 
Love  ufe  Reajon  for  his  phyjician  [fo  Farmer  and 
moft  editors ;  precifian  Folio],  he  admits  him  not 
for  his  counfellor'. 

7,  8.  /  defperate  now  approve  Dejire,  etc.  The 
Quarto  has  a  comma  after  approve,  which  Malone 
retains.  But  the  meaning  is  '  I,  who  am  defperate, 
now  experience  that  defire  which  did  object  ('except* 
=  object)  to  phyfic,  is  death'. 

9.  Pajl  cure,  etc.  '  So  Love's  Labour's  Loft,  Act  V. 
fc.  2,  1.  28  :— 

Great  reafon ;  for  pajl  cure  is  Jlill  pajl  care. 

It  was  a  proverbial  faying.  See  Holland's  Leaguer, 
a  pamphlet  publifhed  in  1632:  "She  has  got  the 
adage  in  her  mouth  ;  Things  pajl  cure,  pajl  care'" — 
MALONE. 

14.   Who  art  as  Hack  as  hell,  as  dark  as  night. 


NOTES.  247 

So  Love's  Labour's  Loft,  Ad  iv.  fc.  3,  11.  254,  255 
(the  King  fpeaking  of  Rofaline)  : — 

Black  is  the  badge  of  hell 
The  hue  of  dungeons  and  thefuit  of  night. 

CXLVIII.  Suggefted  apparently  by  the  laft  two 
lines  of  Sonnet  CXLVII.  :  '  I  have  thought  thee  bright 
who  art  dark';  'what  eyes,  then,  hath  love  put  in 
my  head'? 

4.  Cenfures,  judge,  eflimate,  as  in  Julius  Cafar, 
Ad  in.  fc.  2,  1.  1 6. 

8.  Love's  eye  is  not  fo  true  as  all  men's:  no, 
Walker  writes,  '  Ought  we  not  to  affix  a  longer  flop 
to  no  ?  Otherwife  the  flow  feems  not  to  be  Shake- 
fpearian ;  compare  the  context'.  Lettfom  adds  a  note  • 
to  Walker's  remark:  'Ought  we  to  flop  here? 
Ought  we  not  to  expunge  the  colon  before  no,  and 
write: — 

Love's  eye  is  not  fo  true  as  all  men's  no  ? 
Shakfpere  feems  to  intend  a  pun  on  eye  and  /,  i.e. 
ay'. 

13.  O  cunning  Love!  Here,  he  is  perhaps 
fpeaking  of  his  miftrefs,  but  if  fo,  he  identifies  her 
with  'Love',  views  her  as  Love  perfonified,  and  fo 
the  capital  L  is  right. 

CXLIX.  Conneded  with  Sonnet  CXLVIII.  as 
appears  from  the  clofmg  lines  of  the  two  fonnets.  - 

2.  Partake,  take  part.  So  i  King  Henry  vi., 
Ad  II.  fc.  4,  1.  100,  'Your  partaker  Pole  '  i.e. 
partifan. 


248  NOTES. 

4.  All  tyrant,  i.e.  thou  complete  tyrant !    Malone 
conjectures  '  All  truant'. 

CL.  Perhaps  connected  with  Sonnet  CXLIX.  ; 
*  worfhip  thy  defect '  in  that  fonnet  (1.  1 1),  may  have 
fuggefted  f  with  infufficiency  my  heart  to  fway '  in 
this. 

2.  WM  infufficiency,  etc.,  to  rule  my  heart  by 
defeds. 

5.  Tins   becoming   of  things  ill.     So  Antony  fr 
Cleopatra,  A6t  n.  fc.  2,  1.  243  :— 

Vilejl  things 
Become  themf elves  in  her. 

7.  Warrantife  of  fkill,  furety  or  pledge  of  fagacity 
and  power. 

CL1. 

3 .  Then,  gentle  cheater.  Staunton  writes  * "  Cheater" 
here  fignifies  efcheator,  an  official  who  appears  to 
have   been   regarded   by   the   common   people   in 
Shakefpeare's  day  much  the  fame  as  they  now  look 
upon  an  informer'.     The  more  obvious  meaning 
'rogue*  makes  better  fenfe. 

10.  Triumphant  pri%t,  triumphal  prize,  the  prize 
of  his  triumph.  Walker  cites  Lord  Brooke,  Alaham 
v.  i,  1.  8,  'this  triumphant  robe',  this  role  in 
which  I  triumph. 

CLII.  Carries  on  the  thought  of  the  laft  fonnet ; 
fhe  cannot  juftly  complain  of  his  faults  fince  (he 
herfelf  is  as  guilty  or  even  more  guilty. 


UK  7 
^UFCRN\  249 

ii.  To  enlighten  tbee  gave  eyes  to  llindnefs,  to 
fee  thee  in  the  brightnefs  of  imagination  I  gave  away 
my  eyes  to  blindnefs,  made  myfelf  blind. 

13.  More  perjurd  I.  The  Quarto  has  'more 
perjurde  eye1  \  corre&ed  by  Sewell. 

CLIII.  Malone  writes  '  This  and  the  following 
fonnet  are  compofed  of  the  very  fame  thoughts 
differently  verfified.  They  feem  to  have  been  early 
efTays  of  the  poet,  who  perhaps  had  not  determined 
which  he  mould  prefer.  He  hardly  could  have 
intended  to  fend  them  both  into  the  world*. 

Herr  Hertzberg  (Jahrbuch  der  Deutfchen  Shake- 
fpeare-Gefellfchaft  1878,  pp.  158-162)  has  found 
a  Greek  fource  for  thefe  two  fonnets.  He  writes  : 
*  Dann  ging  ich  an  die  palatinifche  Anthologie  und 
fand  dafelbft  nach  langem  Suchen  im  ix.  Buche 
('ETriSeiKTiKa)  unter  N.  637  die  erfehnte  Quelle. 
.  .  .  Es  lautet  :— 

VTTO  rets  irXaravovs  a,7raA<J)  Ttrpvptvos  v 
cSScv  "E/xos,  vvftc^ats  Aa^TraSa 


Trvp   Kpas   p,€p- 


'E/xoriaSes  Aovr/ao^oevcrtv  vSw/).1 

The  poem  is  by  the  Byzantine  Marianus,  a  writer 
probably  of  the  fifth   century  after   Chrift.     The 

1  Epigrammata  (Jacob)  ix.  65. 


250  NOTES. 

germ  of  the  poem  is  found  in  an  Epigram  by 
Zenodotus  :— 

Tts  yXv\//as  rbv  "Epwra  Trapa  Kprjvycrw  ZOrjKW ; 
Qiofjicvos  Travcrctv  TOVTO  TO  irvp  vSaTi.1 

How  Shakfpere  became  acquainted  with  the  poem 
of  Marianus  we  cannot  tell,  but  it  had  been  tranflated 
into  Latin:  *Seleda  Epigrammata,  Bafel  1529', 
and  again  feveral  times  before  the  clofe  of  the 
fixteenth  century. 

I  add  literal  translations  of  the  epigrams :  '  Here 
'neath  the  plane  trees,  weighed  down  by  foft 
flumber,  flept  Love,  having  placed  his  torch  befide  the 
Nymphs.  Then  faid  the  Nymphs  to  one  another, 
"Why  do  we  delay?  Would  that  together  with 
this  we  had  extinguifhed  the  fire  of  mortals'  heart  I" 
But  as  the  torch  made  the  waters  alfo  to  blaze,  hot 
is  the  water  the  amorous  Nymphs  (or  the  Nymphs 
of  the  region  of  Eros  2)  draw  from  thence  for  their 
bath'. 

'  Who  was  the  man  that  carved  [the  ftatue  of] 
Love,  and  fet  it  by  the  fountains,  thinking  to  quench 
this  fire  with  water?' 

In  Surrey's  '  Complaint  of  the  Lover  Difdained ' 
(Aldine  ed.  p.  1 2),  we  read  of  a  hot  and  a  cold  well 
of  love.  Shenftone  (Works,  ed.  1777,  vol.  i.  p. 
144)  verfifies  anew  the  theme  of  this  and  the 
following  fonnet  in  his  'Anacreontic'.  Hermann 

1  Epigrammata  i.  57. 

2  See  Hertzberg,  S/t.  Jahrbuch,  p.  161. 


NOTES.  251 

Ifaac  fuggefts  that  the  valley-fountain  may  fignify 
marriage,  but  this  will  hardly  agree  with  CLIV. 
12,  13. 

6.  Datelefs,  eternal,  as  in  Sonnet  xxx.  1.  6. 

Lively,  living. 

1 1 .  Bath.  Steevens  fuppofes  this  a  proper  name, 
the  place  Bath.  The  Quarto  has  'bath*. 

14.  Eyes.     The  Quarto  has  'eye'. 

CLIV.  A  variation  on  the  theme  of  Sonnet  CLHI. 
1 3 .   This  ly  that  I  prove,  this  ftatement  which 
follows  (in  1.  14). 


DAY  USF 


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